Gerissene Flügel der Freiheit
by kittykitty30
Summary: The Wings of Freedom have always symbolized hope for a better world. Now, anyone caught brandishing the emblem is to be killed on sight. When the government fails in their attempts to rid the Walls of the Survey Corps, they turn to more desperate attempts- including deals with traffickers, Black Marketers, and even the Garrison. Will the Survey Corps survive the corrupt system?
1. Prologue- Journal Entry

_Not too many soldiers made it, and those who did, fled. I can safely assume the Survey Corps is now short of 120 personnel. I was assigned to the read guard, which was taken out first, followed by the relay teams and standby. I'm not sure about the status of the command, scout support teams, forward scouts, carts, or cart guard teams- I assume they suffered losses, but not nearly as many as we did._

 _We were accosted by a large group of people near the middle of the day. They were incredibly fast, and were able to dispatch us quickly enough to escape the Titans they brought with them. They used Titans as a lure, and since we were distracted, we only noticed them when it was too late. The people- who I suspect were working with the Garrison and Military Police- quickly made their escape, leaving us at the mercy of the Titans._

 _I'll be dead by the time this is found, so read carefully. This was no small accident, these people are out to get us. These aren't the traffickers, these aren't people who just want to make money off of us. If they were, they wouldn't have killed off so many soldiers. 120 people can reel in a fortune on the market, especially soldiers, but they were slaughtered like insects. That can only mean one thing: we're being systematically plotted against._

 _My time's running out. I can't remain hidden forever. The date is November 3rd, year 852. This was the 58th mission into Titan territory, conducted from the Utopia district and- due to unfortunate circumstances- finished just outside of Trost. I'd give context if I had the time for it._

 _This entry is coming to an end. My legs are broken, and my head is pounding- likely from where I hit it when I hit the ground. I want you to know how I died because it is important- the Titans are showing intelligence. One of them kicked me off of my horse and picked me up, but it did not eat me, as I thought it would. Instead, it threw me into this forest, and where I landed is where I am now. It did not pursue me. It wasn't a deviant, nor was it a Titan-shifter- I have a gut feeling is was something in between the two. Either way, that information will be vital in the future._

 _My name is Armin Arlert, 16 years old and a soldier of the Recon Corps. Our mission status is unknown, but one thing is certain: we are under attack._


	2. Chapter 1- Forschungsreise (Expedition)

The district was teeming with activity. Dark grey clouds hung above the bustling city, swirling with the promise of snowfall. The large group slowly made their way forward, the hooves of their horses clicking against the dark cobblestone. The white and blue Wings of Freedom stood out against the grey, fur-lined trench-coats of the horseback riders, causing heads to turn. People dressed in cottons and leathers paused, attention caught.

The Survey Corps? In the Northern regions? This was certainly an unusual sight, and it attracted the eyes of many. Small children excitedly pointed, begging their parents to look, while merchants halted their advertisements momentarily to watch the soldiers proceed forward. Each person was outfitted with a fanny pack-like belt and a backpack, presumably carrying rations. There were no wagons; each person was in charge of themselves. Instead of the average military uniform, they wore grey, fur-lined trench coats.

A soldier glanced at the crowds out of the corners of his green eyes, brown hair tucked underneath his grey hood as he waited on horseback with the rest of the soldiers. He couldn't have been older than 15; his young features seemed shadowed by his hood, the grey atmosphere causing small highlights of light to run along his face's edges. Something was bugging him immensely, though he could not quite place a finger on it. Uneasiness caused chills to run down his spine, and he found himself gripping his horse's reins tightly. _Why are they all staring? Don't they have military here?_ His thoughts were troubled. _No, everyone always stares when we pass them on missions. This isn't any different. I'm just uneasy because I've never been in the North before._

The teen's thoughts were put to an abrupt end as the screeching sound of the gate opening filled his ears. He looked ahead, expression grim as the outside world slowly slid into view. The Survey Corps faced semi-mountainous terrain, the pale rocks offering stark contrast against the gentle, green grass and small, purple wildflowers. The smells wafted through the gate, caressing the soldiers and giving the false impression of peace and tranquility within Wall Maria.

The Survey Corps knew otherwise.

"Eren." The voice came from his left, and he turned, eyes meeting the source. It was a young soldier of around 15; her black hair brushed against her shoulders, grey eyes narrowed slightly. A red scarf was tied around her neck, the sides tucked neatly between the folds of her coat. _Mikasa._

"Yes?" Eren's response, while innocent in nature, held a dark undertone, revealing his discomfort. His eyes met hers, and a short silence grew between them before she finally spoke.

"It's going to be okay."

Eren felt his eyes narrow. "I know," he muttered. He turned away, eyes wandering among the crowd of troopers. The unease was not isolated to him; it was spreading like wildfire, with each person growing more and more anxious to begin the expedition. He turned, glancing at the soldier to his right, who seemed the most on edge of the entire group. He was also around the age of the others, his blonde hair brushing against his jawline and glowing a light yellow color in the dim light. His large, blue eyes were slightly narrowed, a grin on his face- seemingly to ward off inquirers. A dark look shadowed his face, and Eren found himself opening his mouth to speak.

Before he could say anything, however, a booming voice spoke from the head of the formation. "Survey Corps, proceed on the 58th mission to reclaim lost Titan territory."

The Survey Corps charged forward, and Eren kicked his horse up to a strong gallop, falling into place in the formation. Hooves kicked up clumps of dirt and grass, the wildflowers swaying in the drifts caused by the horses' pumping legs. The terrain was different; forested hills rose up to their left, while the flat grassland continued up ahead. To the right lay a magnificent forest. _There are probably Titans swarming in there,_ Eren mused, green eyes locked on the trees. _We'll just have to wait and see._

"It's too dangerous to carry out the formation! We are in new terrain, so stick together." the voice called once again, this time easier to hear due to the absence of ambient sound. "Engage only if your life or your comrade's is on the line."

A spark of anger lit inside Eren's chest, and his head lowered, expression darkening. "How are we supposed to defeat the Titans if we're not even allowed to fight? What the hell's gotten into us!? We're like a bunch of scared little animals, too freaked out about nothing to do our job as soldiers!"

"Eren, we are allowed to fight," Mikasa stated gently, riding up beside Eren. "We just can't do it without reason."

Eren met her grey stare, eyes narrowing. "Yeah, okay," he muttered begrudgingly.

The formation rode onwards, murmured conversations occasionally sparking and dying. The smells of blooming wildflowers and distant snow blew against the soldiers in the form of a slight breeze, and the tension they had felt in the Utopia district seemed to lift with each hoof beat against the grass. There were no signs of Titans anywhere. _Where the hell are they? And why aren't they attacking?_

"They'd be on top of us by now," a dark voice murmured, and Eren turned his head, noticing that his blonde-haired comrade had finally spoken. "Maybe it's just the cold."

"Hey!" a female soldier exclaimed, her voice full of excitement. "We've gone a few kilometers without so much as a single encounter! That means we can reclaim the Northern regions of Wall Maria!"

"Yeah!" another soldier agreed. "This is great! We can take it back! Hear that, guys? We're one step closer!"

"You're right for once," another replied. "Nice job."

 _They're right,_ Eren realized. _We can take back the Northern regions!_

"I wouldn't assume success," Eren's blonde-haired friend muttered, somewhat shakily. "We're not out of the dark yet, despite not seeing Titans yet."

"Lighten up a little, Armin," someone grunted. "Let us have a little excitement, alright?"

Armin lowered his head a bit at that, shifting his gaze towards the road. "There'll be plenty of excitement later," he muttered. "Going this long without seeing any Titans is a surefire sign we'll run into a mob of them at a later date."

Eren felt his heart drop at that. _He's right. We're going to be severely outnumbered when we do finally encounter Titans. Or maybe he's just overthinking this?_ Eren blinked once, lowering his gaze back towards the road, as well. "Either way," he muttered, "we shouldn't let our guard down too much. If we learned anything as trainees, it's that anything can happen when we least expect it."

"Lighten up," someone scoffed, and a tall soldier of around Eren's age appeared beside him. _Jean._ His brown hair was styled in an undercut, brown eyes narrowed and focused on the soldiers ahead. "It's too cold for Titans, or did you not pay attention in class? They don't frequent the cold regions as much as they do the warm ones."

"That might not be the reason," Armin responded before Eren could speak. His blue eyes seemed focused intently on the small road they were following. Eren watched this for a moment, confusion briefly flashing in his eyes. _Huh? What's he talking about? He had the same classes and learned the same things as us, he can't possibly know something we don't… right?_

"Eh? What do you mean?" The brown-eyed soldier's brow creased with skepticism.

"Well, when you think about it, Titans have an extremely high body temperature, so they wouldn't be bothered by the cold," came the response. "It's more likely they have difficulty crossing the terrain, which would explain their absence. If that's really the case, then taking back the Northern regions will be easier than we thought due to the sheer absence of Titans."

"Makes sense," Jean replied slowly. "You've always been a bit too clingy, but that doesn't take away from your brainpower."

"Let's be honest here," a different soldier said, riding up beside the blonde and staring him in the eye. His head was clean-shaven, golden eyes glinting as he kept the pace. _Connie._ A hint of a smirk was evident on his young face. "I was a little confused by you in the beginning; I wrote it off as you just being with Eren."

"He's right," a female soldier suddenly said, riding her horse level to Connie's. She leaned over the horn of the saddle, peering down the line of soldiers. Her brown hair was parted down the middle and tied in a ponytail, side bangs falling over her cheeks and shining a light golden color in the grey sunlight. She was one of the few who were not wearing their hoods. _Sasha._ Her brown eyes were wide and locked on Armin, shining in the faint, dying light. "You've always been hanging around Eren, and I wasn't real sure of how to take that. I thought you were a couple, too."

Armin rolled his eyes at that, brow furrowing and eyes narrowing. "Jean told me the same thing. I'm not that clingy, you know."

"What do we have here," a new voice said, and up rode a tall girl with her hood lying flat against her back. Her brown hair was tied up into a short ponytail, and freckles dotted her face. _Ymir._ Her golden eyes were narrowed, lips curled into a grin; she was staring at Armin, eyes glinting in the same manner as Connie's. "Looks like someone can't take a joke."

"I can take a joke, I just want to clarify that I'm not clingy," came the response.

By this point, the terrain had become increasingly strenuous; the path wound up the mountain, sand-colored rocks littering the ground as boulders veered up on both sides. They were making their way through a canyon of sorts, and small snowflakes blew into their faces, the wind blowing their hair back and the cold increasing. Eren gripped his leather reins tightly, crimson mittens squeezing around them. It was getting cold.

"We're going to set up camp here!" a loud voice suddenly called. The formation slowly pulled to a stop in a large, grass-covered clearing, the path continuing to wind into a forest further on. There were a few trees scattered about, all of which the perfect size to tie the horses to. None other than Commander Erwin, with his blonde hair parted neatly to the side and his piercing blue eyes shining in the faint light, pulled his chestnut horse to the side, dismounting and tying his reins to a tree. The formation followed suit, the soldiers hopping off of their mounts and tethering them respectively.

They began to group up, with several soldiers branching away from the others to collect dry firewood. By the time the moon fell behind the tree-lined horizon, a large campfire had been created, and the soldiers sat cross-legged in a circle around it, munching on their rations and laughing amongst each other. The first stars began to slowly fade into view as the sky melted from dark blue to a deep black. The half-moon shone down on them, but it was not light enough to cause activity among the Titans; for now, the Survey Corps was safe.

Sasha was stuffing her rations into her mouth with force, gnawing through it as though she were cutting through paper. Crumbs tumbled from her mouth as she ate, causing Connie to snort in disgust.

"Hey, eat with damn manners!" he exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed. "We're all hungry, you're no different!"

"I can't help it! I'm so hungry…!"

Eren listened to the exchange with slight attention, eyes focusing on his stew. _Mud with seasoning,_ he begrudgingly thought, eyes narrowing as he looked at the fire-lit tin pot. _Nobody in their right mind would enjoy this stuff._ He held the pot to his mouth, forcing down chunks of potato.

"Come on, Armin!" he heard someone exclaim, and he lowered the pot, glancing towards the blonde-haired boy, distracted from his dislike of the rations. The same person spoke again. "You're really quiet today! What's the matter?"

"Yeah, you are a bit quiet," the brown-haired boy added to the conversation, green eyes softening. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh! Ah- just overthinking!" Armin quickly said, flashing an awkward grin and jerkily shoving his tin pot to his mouth. "As usual." He took a long gulp of the contents, and Eren felt himself relax.

"Oh, good," he said, dismissing the response as ordinary. _Always overthinking- huh?_

Armin had taken a leather-bound journal out of his belt bag, and was scribbling something inside of it. Each individual had been assigned a journal, and were ordered to keep records of anything interesting that had happened- so what was Armin writing about? A thought came to mind, and Eren felt a grin grow on his face.

"Hey, Ar," Eren quietly said, leaning closer to his friend and glancing down at the journal. "Who're you getting in trouble this time?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm not-"

"It's okay, you can tell me," Eren grinned.

Armin lowered his gaze a bit, glancing back towards his journal. "Well, I was actually recording information about camping out. Just the little things…"

"Which includes writing dirt, right?"

"Don't worry about it, okay?"

 _Alright, Armin, whatever you say._

The sky was beginning to lighten, but the camp had been taken down long before then. The Survey Corps soldiers prepared themselves for the day, rolling up their sleeping bags and packing their things into their backpacks. A light snow was falling, and clouds covered the sky, their dark forms moving slowly across the atmosphere.

Eren held his lantern up as he finished packing his bag. His grey coat offered plenty of protection from the elements, as did the red scarf he had pulled around his face. They had expected snow, but the biting cold nevertheless seemed to unnerve the soldiers; they moved quickly, likely motivated by the prospect of returning to the warmth within the Southern regions. All of them had their hoods and scarves pulled up, their crimson-colored mittens keeping their hands warm as they worked.

The sooner the mission was finished, the better.

Eren made his way towards the tree where he'd tied his horse for the night. He noticed other soldiers doing the same with their mounts; it would be time to leave soon. The boy was greeted by a snort; his horse perked its brown ears as he approached, lifting its head and reaching forward. Eren held a mitten-clad hand out, and the horse sniffed it before pulling away and returning to its casual posture. The boy reached over and quickly untied the reins, placing them around the horse's neck before getting into position. He reached up with little difficulty and grabbed the horn of the saddle, pushing a foot into the stirrup and pulling himself up.

"Armin!" he called, noticing a familiar face mounting a nearby horse. "Do you think there's a chance we'll get to kill some Titans today?"

The blonde soldier paused, lowering his lantern and revealing the distinct frown on his face. "…possibly," was all he replied before turning and quickly hopping atop his horse, holding the lantern in one hand and holding the reins in the other. He kicked his horse to a trot and steered towards the rest of the group, path illuminated by the gas lamp.

Eren watched him leave, confused. _What? What's with that answer? That doesn't tell me anything!_ He stared after his friend, green eyes betraying his emotions. _Why won't he talk to me?_

The thick dark was beginning to lift, the white snow gently drifting to the ground and resting against the soft grass in a blanket. Eren kicked his horse to a steady walk, eyes locked on the blonde soldier's grey coat. White flakes floated onto his hood, covering his shoulders and bag with a soft film. Something had caught his eye… he turned slightly, shifting his gaze from Armin to a familiar figure. The soldier was waving him over, and he rerouted his horse, quickly approaching the boy at a smooth trot.

"Hey, Eren!" Connie exclaimed when the brunette finally arrived. "Sash and I were wondering when we're gonna get going." Despite the freezing temperatures, the boy's hood was down, his clean-shaven head exposed to the elements. His breath formed white swirls in the air as he spoke, golden eyes wide and determined.

"Now," a deep voice interrupted, and Erwin appeared from the dim lamplight, a metal lantern clutched between his fingers and a brown bag slung over his shoulder as though it weighed nothing. The grey horse he was mounted gave a low nicker, head bowed and brown eyes angled towards Eren's chestnut horse. Erwin stared at his inferiors with a small frown, blue eyes commanding in the faint, orange light. His grey hood was pulled over his head, white lining pressing against his blonde hair in tufts. "We will be leaving immediately. Mount your horses if you haven't already, and we will proceed forward."

Connie straightened his posture, right hand clenching into a fist and pressing against his heart while his left hand balled up and pressed against the soft of his back. The military salute. "Yes, sir!" he exclaimed, grabbing his lamp from his backpack and activating it before slinging his bag across his back and turning towards the remaining horses. He took off at a swift walk, followed closely by Sasha, who stared down at him with soft, brown eyes. The crunching of their boots against the snow faded as they walked further away, and Eren watched them disappear from immediate view with a small frown.

 _We're leaving now? Maybe I can get Armin to talk to me. He's normally really talkative, what's up with him?_

The village was silent. Eren's attempts at conversing with Armin had been unsuccessful; every time he spoke, his comrade returned the endeavor with brief responses. The brown-haired teenager was certainly confused, even after Armin's first short reply. Even now, after having been traveling for two hours, he couldn't help but shake the sense that something was severely wrong; the soldiers were moving at a slow walk, forced into three single-file lines in order to squeeze through the abandoned village they had come across. The dilapidated buildings loomed out of the snow like ghosts of a bygone era, their crumbling rooftops and shattered windows outlined in the thick, white light.

"Connie," a voice whispered, and Eren turned, finding himself looking at Sasha. Her brown eyes were wide, expression grim as she stared at the eerie landscape. "Do you think we might end up meeting Titans?"

"Don't be ridiculous," came the response. "We haven't found any Titans yet, what makes you think we'll find them now?"

Several soldiers' expressions darkened at that, and Eren found himself doubting every word Connie said. _There could be anything hiding here,_ he thought. _Anything._

The snow swirled through the sky in large flakes, falling against the ground and crunching beneath the hooves of the Survey Corps mounts as they proceeded. Time seemed to slow down; the world stopped revolving. Eren's green eyes slowly swiveled between the faces of his comrades, his friends; their breaths came from their mouths in swirls of vapor, their eyes wide and their faces pale.

Everything changed in a single, prolonged second.

Shards of wood and glass sprayed the soldiers as a single foot slammed into a hut to the left. The booming sound that followed filled Eren's ears, and his immediate response to instinctively reach for his 3DMG holsters, only to come to the realization that his gear was packed away.

The Titan stood at an impressive 12 meters, and it began to reach down, fingers curling around a soldier and lifting him into its mouth as though it were eating a mere ant.

"No," Eren mouthed, watching in horror as his comrade was chewed apart. A single scream was all that remained as the beast finished its meal, red blood dripping from its gaping jaws as it reached down to pick out another.

Four more looming figures stepped forward, their footsteps causing the ground to vibrate, their shadows casting over the soldiers. Eren stared up at them in horror as they began to reach down, hands grasping for whoever they could grab. The brown-haired soldier found himself pulling his horse to a stop; they were trapped.

The snow continued to fall on the group, soft, white flakes giving off a very false façade of peace and safety. Eren stared around as more and more Titans began to appear; their large, shadowed bodies faded from the white light, hands reaching through the air and fingers wrapping around soldiers. Eren couldn't tell how many were being eaten; the screams drowned out the sounds of footsteps, and the boy found himself frozen, rage burning brighter within him with each scream of agony.

"Ackerman, Brouse, Springer, Kirstein." Erwin's voice rang above the screams, calling the cadets to attention. Eren squinted through the thick snow, trying to see ahead; he could make out the faint silhouette of the commander, who was holding what appeared to be a smoke signal in his hand. It was raised to the sky, held steady. Not a single cloud of colored smoke was visible.

The four soldiers were by Erwin in an instant, and Eren urged his horse forward, peering through the snow and thick fog. Screams continued to fill the air, much to the boy's dismay; _we're losing._ He tried to listen in on what Commander Erwin was saying; Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, and Jean were all proficient with their 3DMG, more so than the other cadets. _What's going on? Is he really going to have them use their gear in weather like this!?_

What Eren failed to realize was that the conditions were improving; the snow was beginning to die down, the fog less intense and the scene easier to decipher. Sasha, Mikasa, Jean, and Connie were unbuttoning the bags on their horses, unbuckling the leather straps and pulling open the flaps. Each of them reached into their bags, holsters in hand; Eren narrowed his eyes. They weren't possibly going to fight the Titans head-on… were they?

Their hands reemerged, blades drawn as they made eye contact with one another before looking at Erwin. He gave a nod, motioning with his free hand for two of his comrades to join the cadets. A short man and tall agender rode forward out of the fog, blades drawn, as well; the agender wore thick-rimmed goggles, their brown hair tied back in a messy ponytail. The man's black hair was parted lopsidedly down the middle, bangs falling over his squinty eyes and disappearing over an undercut.

 _Hange? Levi? What's going on?_

Eren felt as though the world were slowing down; instead of soldiers frantically trying to calm themselves and their comrades, he saw the six blade-wielders, as well as Erwin's raised gun. He began to realize what was going on, and reached his hands to his ears, covering them as he watched the others do the same.

Erwin fired the noise grenade. The air fell still; the world silenced itself, all sounds drowning in the thick ringing that engulfed the village. Deep undertones vibrated through Eren's ears, and he found his gaze locked onto the group of six. They were riding away, away from the turmoil, away from the confusion; their blades in hand, they disappeared into the fading fog, each person faced in different directions. It was at that moment that he realized: they were going to take out the Titans.

One by one, the looming figures began to fall to the cold ground, crashes vibrating the ground and causing snow to bounce off of the rooftops. Eren stared around the village in awe; it was working. The Titans were distracted by the large congregation of soldiers in the center, and therefore seemed to be ignoring the individual soldiers; the beasts were dropping like flies, dispatched quickly by the fleeting forms of the agile sword-wielders.

Not another minute passed before the majority of the enemy were grounded; the six sent to dispatch of the pests returned on horseback, appearing from the now-thin fog with auras of individual pride. Erwin gave them curt nods, dismissing them; Mikasa immediately steered towards Eren, trotting over to him with distinct worry in her grey stare.

"Eren, are you okay?" she asked, wiping the blood from her face- it appeared as though, despite their success, they had suffered injury. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine," Eren replied briefly. "Good job taking those things down."

The black-haired girl froze at that, and she began to turn, eyes scanning the survivors. Eren peered closer, curious; what was she looking for?

"Where is Armin?"

The question took the boy off guard, and he, too, began to glance around, searching the faces of those who stood in the village still. His eyes met large, blue ones, and he breathed a sigh of relief, turning his horse and steering towards the soldier. Mikasa followed, tugging at the rim of her red scarf slightly with a finger.

"Hey, Ar!" Eren greeted, grinning as he arrived next to the cadet.

"Oh, you have the wrong person," a squeaky voice answered, and the person turned, her blonde hair falling over her eyes in thin strands as she did so. Eren felt a wave of embarrassment roll through his face, and he turned, smile instantly dropping from his face.

"Sorry, Krista," he replied, continuing to scan facial features. "I couldn't really see that it was you through all of the fog."

"I don't blame you," a voice chuckled, and Ymir turned from her place next to Krista. Her horse bowed its head slightly, allowing her to move without losing balance. The girl reached an arm out, resting her elbow against Krista's shoulder. "Krista's too sweet to be ignored, after all!"

Eren didn't respond, instead focusing his efforts on searching the faces. _Maybe when we leave the village we'll find him. He has to be here, he was here the entire time!... wasn't he?_

"The Titans have been defeated," Erwin announced, causing the remaining soldiers to look up from their conversations and activities. "We will count our losses tonight. Let us continue forward; we cannot afford to lose time during this mission, especially not with less soldiers than before."

Eren felt heat build inside of his stomach. "No," he growled. "I'm not leaving Armin behind." Without another word, he turned his horse around, kicking it to a solid gallop and taking off in the opposite direction of the soldiers. Snow flew behind the horse's hooves at it ran, its legs pumping and tail billowing in the air. Eren's green eyes seemed to display rage as he urged his mount forward- he would find his friend, even if it killed him.

"Eren" The cadet heard his name called behind him, but he ignored it, continuing to race forward, eyes frantically switching between buildings in search of his friend. _He's just hiding. He ran away and hid in an alley. Without protection, he's pretty weak, after all._

Mikasa was following closely behind him, also searching the village. Eren ignored her for the most part; his mind was geared towards one thing, and one thing only: finding Armin, dead or alive.


	3. Chapter 2- Verzweiflung (Desperation)

_Where am I?_ The single question burned in his mind, the words sending shivers down his spine. His hands and legs were bound together by thick, grey cloth, his mouth gagged; communication was out of the question.

Armin's vision slowly began to clear. At first, he couldn't tell where he was; all he could see was dim, blue light filtering through the air. It soon dawned upon him that the source was a large, exposed gap near the back of medium-sized room where the canvas roof met the wooden walls. _I must be in a wagon,_ he thought, blue eyes finally focusing. The dark silhouettes of three people leaned against the cart walls, the polished nickel of rifle barrels shining in their hands. The cabin of the cart was empty, save for the guards, and Armin couldn't help but wonder why. _I guess they carry their supplies elsewhere. No doubt about it, this cart is already carrying its cargo._

"Look who's finally awake," a deep voice laughed from the shadows. Armin's eyes flicked towards the source of the words, and the cadet found himself internally cursing at his situation. _How the hell am I going to get out of this? I can't move, my hands and feet are bound…_

"Hey, chill out, sweetie," the second guard chuckled. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Don't worry, we won't hurt you... yet."

"Cut it out, the both of you," the third grunted. This voice was higher pitched than the others, and it carried very dark undertones that sent shivers throughout Armin's body. _They wouldn't hesitate to kill me, otherwise they wouldn't be holding their rifles like that. If I put up a fight, I'm dead. This can't be happening._

"Come on, sunshine," the first said, standing and looming over the blonde soldier. "What's the problem? Don't piss yourself, you're fine." His voice was gruff, yet calm, far different from the tone he'd been using seconds before. Armin's eyes widened, and he found himself gritting his teeth- the guard's words had cut deep, especially one word in particular. _'Sunshine'? Only those close to me ever called me that, especially my grandfather. This poor excuse of a human being doesn't have the right to call me that. What is his source of confidence? Where is it coming from? Calling people nicknames like that without being close to them is offensive. Offending a soldier who knows his way around an enemy isn't exactly the smartest thing you can do, so what's his thinking? What is his plan? Where's his superiority complex coming from?_

Armin's eyes moved between each person, sliding down to focus on the rifles. _This isn't a normal ransom, there's no need for it to be. The terminology the second one used makes that clear- if this were a normal kidnapping, they'd have been on top of me by now in terms of physical abuse. These are the same kind of people that killed Mikasa's parents- human traffickers. Hunters who prey on humans for sustenance- in this case, money. It makes sense that they'd try to catch a soldier of the Survey Corps, no doubt that one would bring in a huge earning on the black market for whoever was lucky enough to get their hands on one. The fact that they aren't holding me at gunpoint makes that clear- the rifles are just a precaution, in case I fight back._ He glanced down at his bindings, head bowing as he did so. _Now that I think about it, these bonds aren't particularly savage, either- they aren't meant to hurt or cut off circulation, they're just meant to restrain. That proves it, these are definitely traffickers. Their superiority is self-explanatory._

 _To them, I am simply livestock, alive to be sold for a market price. Disgusting, when you get right down to it._

The distant calls of individuals reached the wagon, and Armin made out the faint order to proceed. The cart gave a jolt forward, and the soldier slammed against the back wall, his flesh connecting with the wood in a painful blow. His mouth clamped shut around the cloth gag, tears springing up in his large eyes; he found himself shaking slightly, feet pressing against the wooden floor and shoulders braced against the wall. Shots of pain coursed through his torso, and he unclamped his teeth, only to find himself drawing in long breaths of cold air from around the gag. Laughter filled his ears, and his eyes slowly swiveled upwards, blurry vision revealing the three guards to be chuckling amongst themselves. Their faces were shadowed, but their white teeth glinted in the faint light; their eyes were locked on Armin.

"That was cute," the first snorted, wiping a tear from his eye with his sleeve. The wagon, by now, was rolling along the rocky path, its passengers feeling each bump in the road as it zoomed along. It was gaining speed, and although the terrain was rocky, it was moving smoother than normal; this could only be explained by it having runners instead of traditional wheels.

"You're a real angel when you're crying," the second guard commented, causing anger to flare inside of Armin's chest. _An angel capable of more than I let on._

"Gustav, remove her gag," the third ordered, the dark undertones eliciting less of a reaction from the soldier. Armin was helpless, his breath ragged and pain shooting through him with each movement; the first guard was approaching carefully, the rifle tucked under an arm and angled away from the prisoner. He was gaining ground, and his looming figure stood over Armin in no time at all. He knelt down, arms reaching forward and slipping around to the back of the boy's head. The gag fell into Gustav's hands, and he stood, turning and making his way back towards his comrades at the front of the bumpy wagon. The brilliant light revealed the guards to be wearing coats the color of snow; they were waist-length, but looked fairly warm, and Armin found himself temporarily wishing he were wearing one instead of them.

"What's your name?" the third guard questioned, voice harsh and demanding. Armin felt a little taken aback by the sudden interrogation; _of course they'd ask my name. Why wouldn't they? They need to know exactly who to tag me as. Names don't necessarily mean nothing. Maybe they're looking for someone in particular…_

"Arnelle Artz," Armin replied slowly, eyes locking onto the third guard. Something about them was off; their posture was straight, hands calmly holding a rifle and legs parted only slightly. They were taking every bump and blow like a shock absorber; they moved with the carriage, not against it, maintaining the aura of authority. Whoever they were, they meant business. The guard took a single step forward, then another; their boots clicked against the floor as they walked confidently towards Armin, rifle lowered but posture nonetheless intimidating. Armin swallowed his fear and looked up at the approaching person, attempting to look brave but initially resembling a terrified dog. This person was much taller than the others, and seemed the most threatening, despite their relatively calm nature. _I don't like this. I could shimmy onto my back and kick upwards if push came to shove, but they have a rifle; there's no way I can defend myself should they decide I'm an enemy. It better not come to that..._

The guard stared down at Armin with wide, oval eyes, face silhouetted against the blue light. They began to kneel, hands stretching towards the boy. Their skin was smooth, nails well-trimmed; this person took care of themselves, a clear indicator of wealth. Armin's eyes widened, and he began to back away, pressing himself against the wall as though his life depended on it. Still, the person continued to reach forward, fingers grasping the top button of his shirt. Armin breathed sharply as cold skin pressed against his collarbone; he began to wriggle, attempting to somehow escape his captor's grasp. Instinct was slowly beginning to kick in; if he weren't already on high alert, he most certainly was now.

"Angela, what're you doing?" Gustav questioned, his voice carrying across the wagon as though he were a mere step away. His tone was light-hearted, as though he couldn't care less about the guard's intentions; it was all entertainment to him.

 _'Angela'? Does that mean... but why? Why would a woman target other women with the specific intentions of selling them into things like prostitution and slavery? A perverted, lonely man, I can understand, but someone who can actively sympathize with stock? Who can understand the very people she's against?_ The thoughts raced through Armin's head as the guard- Angela- succeeded in unclasping the second button on the boy's shirt.

"Inspecting the goods," came the short response. Those three words were enough to send Armin over the edge; he began to kick out with his bound legs, attempting to connect his feet with the enemy. Angela took no notice and continued to attempt to take off his clothing, exposing his skin to the harsh cold as yet another button on his shirt was undone. His instinctual responses kicked into full gear, and he shoved himself forward, teeth snapping at her face and saliva spraying her clothing. She fell backwards, a loud thud sounding as she connected with the wooden floor. Her fall gave Armin the tactical advantage; the blonde bent down and began to tear into the cloth binding his arms together, teeth flashing as he ripped at the material with all the force he could muster. Strips of the grey binds flew through the air as he savagely gnawed his way to freedom; saliva and flecks of blood sprayed in all directions, but he ignored it, focusing on the task at hand. Angela tried several times to stand, but was knocked over by the many bumps that jolted the wagon; her subordinates merely stood by, watching the scene with slight interest.

"Idiots!" Angela hissed, shoving herself to her feet and lunging towards Armin. "She's getting past her restraints!"

 _Three people aren't that many._ The single thought burned in his head and heart as he broke free of the tightly-woven cloth. In the instant that freedom called Armin forward, Angela was on him, shoving him back against the wall with a loud slam. He cried out in pain, eyes burning and head throbbing as she raised a fist, aiming for his face. The boy wasn't about to let his efforts be in vain, however; he ducked down, crouching and pressing a foot against the wooden wall. In a split second, he kicked away, flinging himself at Angela with arms outstretched; she went to swing, but he was faster. His knuckles connected with her throat, and she flung backwards, smacking against the floor.

Armin fell with her, elbows digging into her neck as he ungracefully smashed into the floor. Angela was gasping for breath, but to no avail; her windpipe was crushed from his blows, and suffocation was imminent. She began trying to back away, trying to scoot herself against a wall, trying to force herself upright; her attempts were failing miserably, partly due to Armin holding her down. The boy attempted to right himself, only to fall against her chest once more; the many bumps in the road had knocked him off balance, and he found himself staring into Angela's dying eyes, horror coursing through his body as he saw what he had done. The woman was crying; tears streamed down her sharp cheeks, mouth open in a silent wail for help that would never be reached. The boy tried desperately to shove himself away from her, but once again found the prospect to be futile as another bump sent him crashing back into Angela's flailing body.

"Woah, what the hell do you think you're doing, tramp!?" Gustav shouted, racing forward and aiming his rifle directly at Armin. "Bruno, help Angela!"

The second guard rushed to the woman's side, grabbing the back of Armin's shirt and flinging him away. He struggled only briefly; the man's movements were too swift for him to register. His body slammed against the side of the wagon, and he hit the floor face-first with a grunt of pain. Gustav was on him in an instant; the sound of him loading his rifle filled Armin's ears, and the blonde-haired boy began to struggle, raising his head shakily and turning to look at the scene out of the corner of his eye. Blood trickled from a scratch on his head, filling his vision with a red film; blinded, he listened closely to the cock of the rifle, the squeak of Gustav's boots against the wood, the pounding of Bruno's fists as he tried to administer CPR to his fallen comrade.

 _Kill or be killed._ The thought rang through Armin's head, and without thinking about it he forced his legs outward. They connected with Gustav's ankle, and the man found himself falling to the ground, finger slipping on his rifle's trigger as he did so. The bullet zipped through the canvas roof, light filtering in through the large rip that the small object created. Angela's face was illuminated, her eyes glinting in their sudden spotlight; a chord was struck within Armin as he realized that she was no longer struggling. _If you're fighting inhumane creatures, you give up your humanity. But these… these are humans!_ The thought caused his adrenaline to spike, and he knew what he had to do. The boy reached down quickly and began to untie his legs, hands moving as quickly as the possibly could as he worked his way towards total freedom. His eyes remained unmoving from Gustav; every movement the man made caused his instincts to rage, and the thought that his actions had caused Angela's death was shoved further towards the back of his mind.

Gustav had regained his composure, and he stood, loading his rifle once again. Out of the corner of his eye, Armin saw movement; Bruno had given up on Angela and was approaching the two, his own rifle raised and ready to fire. Armin disregarded the biting pain that spread through his hands as he began ripping at the cloth; desperation overwhelmed his senses, and he found himself tearing the binds off, cutting off circulation in his fingers as he wrapped the cloth around them and pulled. His struggle was not in vain; the binds tore, and he sprung to his feet, immediately taking on a defensive position. Both rifles were now loaded and aimed towards him.

"No more kindness," Bruno snarled, finger curling around the nickel trigger. "You're psycho, completely psycho! Nobody in their right minds would want to deal with you!"

"You killed our comrade," Gustav growled, also taking hold of the trigger. "Now you get to feel the pain you've inflicted on us."

The terrain was smooth, at this point; there would be no bumps to dislodge the men's rifles. Armin's heart began to race; panic flowed through his blood, adrenaline pushing him towards a split-second decision. He braced himself, crossing his arms in front of his head and pressing a foot against the wall. Without a single word, he pushed forward, barreling into Gustav as both rifles fired; a bullet lodged itself into his shoulder, the other grazing the side of his head. The man was on his back in an instant, and Armin raised a fist, punching into Gustav's throat full-force. His mind was blank; his instinct fed into his actions, pushing him forward despite his injuries.

Bruno let out a shout of rage and charged Armin, but the boy met him half-way; he flipped onto his feet, raising his fists and locking his eyes onto the large man. His leg shot forward and around, meeting the back of Bruno's knee as the man surged forward; he hit the floor with a slam, and Armin wrestled the rifle from his hands, holding it by the barrel and bringing the wooden butt of the weapon down. It connected with the guard's skull, the resulting crack sickening. Bruno hit the floor of the cart, unconscious, and Armin flipped the rifle over upright, grabbing a package of gunpowder and a bullet. Time was his worst enemy; he couldn't afford to mess up, not with his life on the line. He quickly loaded the firearm, movements rapid and panicked; his heart pounded in his ears and he raised the rifle into firing position.

A single shot rang through the air, and Armin lowered the rifle, blue eyes deadly. A small pool of blood surrounded Bruno's head where the bullet had connected; all that was left to worry about was Gustav. Armin grabbed the gun by its barrel, aiming the butt towards Gustav's throat and slamming it against his target full-force. The guard fell backwards, sputtering and choking, hands grasping frantically at his throat. His trachea now crushed, death would greet the man in minutes. Armin stared at him, eyes glittering; he knelt down, tugging open Gustav's coat with the clear goal of taking what he could.

The easiest part was over. Now Armin had to focus on escaping with whatever he could grab.

His hand slipped into an internal pocket, grasping and pulling out a box of ammo. A butcher knife and a box of ration food were the next finds. Armin set the goods in a pile and turned towards Bruno, his looting producing a second box of ration food, an empty journal and pen, and a small case of water. Something silver caught his eye, and he swiveled in the direction of Angela. Something was glinting against her neck, and upon further examination, he found that it was a silver necklace. From this angle, the cadet could see that she was wearing a utility belt, as well.

Armin frowned. _That belt should work for carrying supplies. Speaking of which, I haven't had time yet to assess personal loss._ The blonde glanced down; his grey coat had been taken, along with his backpack and belt. He wore his white shirt, white trousers, and brown boots; that was all. His straps and 3DMG were gone. Red blood bubbled from the wound on his shoulder, dripping down his shirt and leaving red stains in its mark; Armin felt a dull throbbing at the site of the injury, and knew he needed to stop the bleeding. He bent down and curled his fingers around Angela's grey shirt, twisting it around his hand and ripping it away from her body. The cloth came away in long strips, and Armin set to work bandaging himself, making sure to clean the blood from his skin in the process. When he had finished his task, he reached towards the carcass and began to take the precious belt off of the eerily still woman.

The sputtering from Gustav died down, but the boy ignored it, focusing on the task at hand.

Armin buckled Angela's belt around his waist; it was too large to fit normally, and he found himself using the butcher knife to slice an extra hole into the leather. He cut off the extraneous strap and put it into one of the pockets, filling the belt with his gathered supplies. He took Angela's silver necklace, as well, the thought of trading for goods briefly crossing his mind as he did so. The intense cold swirled through the cabin, and Armin shivered slightly, turning and walking towards Bruno, who had the largest coat. The boy struggled to pull it off of the man's shoulders before tightening it around himself. It had a large hood, and reached his knees; it would do nicely for him in the snow. The blonde tucked a rifle under his new coat before quickly walking towards the gap in the wood.

 _I need a horse._ The thought burned in Armin's mind as he peered out of the wagon at the formation. His eyes squinted against the brilliant, silver light, and he waited for his vision to adjust before surveying the group. The weather was unpleasant, to say the least; the wind's howls drowned out most outside noise, its strong gusts blowing snow and ice into the faces of the enemy. Riders surrounded the wagon, each equipped with 3DMG and a rifle; their attire was similar to his own, though the boy noticed something he had not before. A Military Police badge was evident on the backs of their coats, and he reached a hand around, feeling it evident on his own. None of that mattered at the moment; he was still being fueled by adrenaline, and he found himself raising his rifle, loading it and cocking it before aiming towards a rider near the back of the formation. _Their eyesight is impaired, and they can't hear anything. If they could, they'd have restrained me ages ago. It doesn't look like they can see, but just in case…_ Armin backed away from the gap slightly, not allowing the polished barrel to glint in the light. His finger curled around the trigger as he aimed, and with a slow breath, he fired.

The rider fell sideways off of its horse, leaving the white beast to its own devices. It pranced forward a few paces before turning and galloping away from the formation; luckily for Armin, none of the other traffickers noticed, and continued to ride forward at full-speed. The boy lowered his rifle and tucked it back into his coat, slinging it over his shoulder and pulling out his knife. He took a flying leap forward, shooting out of the gap and rolling to the side of the path. The traffickers rode forward, hooves spraying him with snow, blinding him as it mixed with the blood on his face; he covered his head with his arms, waiting for the group to ride past before making his move.

The riders couldn't have noticed if they tried; they were too blinded by the biting snow to focus on anything except for pushing forward. The howling wind drowned out all other noise; Armin closed his eyes, covering his ears with his hands and pointing the blade of the knife away from his face. After what seemed like forever, the distant sound of hoof beats faded, and Armin opened his eyes, pushing himself to his feet.

It was only then that the realization of what he'd done dawned upon him.

"I... killed them," he said shakily, blue eyes slowly lowering to stare at his blood soaked hands. "I killed them when they could have lived…. I… I'm…"

He couldn't take it. Armin slumped to his knees, stomach rolling in on itself. He vomited into the snow, gagging as the previous night's rations made a sudden reappearance. _Why…. Why did I do it? Why didn't I let them go? It all happened so fast… and I… I shot someone in cold blood. I didn't need to, but I did. For what? A mount? That's not a reason to kill someone! That's not a reason to end a life!_ Tears began to stream down his face, the drops freezing to his cheeks as he stared, frozen, at the dirtied snow. _I can't take it… how am I supposed to live knowing I took the lives of people_? Tears began to stream down his face, the drops freezing to his cheeks as he stared, frozen, at the dirtied snow.

A snort from behind caused the boy to glance back. The white horse of the man he'd shot stood to his right, its head lowered as it took a hesitant step forward. Its warm breath was visible in the cold air as it slowly pressed its snout against Armin's neck. The boy stared up at it, blue eyes meeting its brown ones. He slowly reached a hand upwards, palm facing the sky. The horse pushed its muzzle into his hand, sniffing his palm and rasping its tongue over his flat fingers. It was hungry; this much was evident from its nibbling at his hand. Armin pushed himself onto his own two feet, reaching his other hand forward and softly stroking the horse along its head.

The distraction was nice, but it was only temporary. _Why did I do it? I had to fight those people, to escape, but, finish them off? Why, why didn't I just disable them? Surely I didn't succumb to pure instinct? Was it that bad of a situation? So bad I slaughtered them like an animal? Killing those people… was in self-defense, it had to be. If I hadn't done it, I'd be either dead or exposed. But… killing them? Was murder really the only option? The first 3, they were different, but that last one? That was uncalled for. That was murder. That was unjustifiable murder!_ Armin once again felt a wave of guilt wash over him, and his head bowed, tears beginning to fall. The boy held a hand up to his head, wiping away the blood that was streaming down his face. _Is this really what I'm becoming, a ruthless killer? No. No, I refuse to live like this! Those people… they died so I could live. They died… for me? No, they died BECAUSE of me!_

Armin reached towards the horse's bridle, grabbing the side of it with two fingers and pulling the animal forward. It obeyed, stepping carefully into position, allowing the boy to grab the horn of the saddle with one hand and the cantle with the other. He pushed his foot into the stirrup and hopped into the seat, swinging his leg around and gathering the reins with one hand. He looked down at the butcher knife, its shiny blade reflecting his determined blue eyes and blood-stained face. _Because they're dead, I have a horse, food, weapons, and a coat, and I'm not being taken somewhere to be sold off as a slave. There's a reason I've made it this far. I have what it takes to get back to Eren and Mikasa. I have it in me; I just need to make it there alive._

Armin kicked the horse to a trot and steered it around, heading back the way they had come in search of the fallen trafficker. The snow swirled in his face as it fell, the flakes dancing through the air gracefully and blowing gently to the upturned blanket below. The blonde cadet was shaken, but he had a goal now: make it back to the Survey Corps alive. He continued to ride against the snowfall, eyes squinting against the brilliant light. He would need all the supplies he could muster; a single box of food ration wouldn't last him long in the snow. _I saw the guard wearing 3DMG; if I can take that, then I'll have a better chance at returning in one piece._

… _.._

In order to hook up the gear, Armin had to first take off his coat, utility belt, and boots. He stood on his belongings, keeping his bare feet out of the snow as he buckled the many belts that consisted of the 3-dimensional Maneuver Gear straps; wrapping them around his frozen feet was especially strenuous, and he found himself shivering uncontrollably as he attempted to slip the coverings over his toes. It was painful; his fingers were freezing, his ears and nose were numb, and his body temperature was rapidly decreasing. The cadet persisted, however; his goal rung fresh in his mind, and with each failed attempt to slide the straps over his toes, his determination grew. The snow was battling against him, but he ignored it to the best of his abilities, instead focusing only on strapping himself up.

The seventh attempt was successful, and Armin breathed a sigh of relief, his breath visible in the air as puffs of vapor. He immediately pulled on his boots, rubbing his hands against his arms in an attempt to warm them up. His shirt, despite being long-sleeved, offered little protection from the harsh weather, and he found himself giving up the fleeting attempt and instead focusing on bolting his gear to the contact points. Visions of his very recent call with the female Titan filled his mind, and he bolted his gear tighter to himself, not wanting to have a repeat of his unfortunate fall in which his gear was knocked off. The boy finished gearing up and immediately strapped his utility belt around his waist, working around the gear straps and tucking the belt among them. It wouldn't be falling off or getting in the way anytime soon. Armin then pulled his coat on, relishing the warmth it offered and pulling his hood over his head with a sigh of relief.

The cadet turned back towards the guard's bloodied body, his expression falling as he bent down and turned the carcass over face-first. It had been a young teen, around 15 or 16; his brown hair fell over his forehead in slender tufts, green eyes dull and lifeless. Armin's heart dropped; this was the person he'd killed. _He probably had a family, a mom and a dad… people who cared about him… and I took him away from them. I did this._ The boy reached down, grabbing the body's left hand and holding it up. He entwined his fingers with those of the carcass, eyes watery. _You had a name… a story all of your own… no, I can't get worked up about this. Not here._ He pulled his hand away, and the body's hand fell limply against the snow, the bloodless fingers flat and unmoving.

Armin began to root through the body's pockets, searching for something very particular. His fingers brushed against leather, and he grabbed the object, pulling it out and flipping it open. It was a pocket journal, the kind used by the cadets during field assessments. The boy stared down at the faded words, unable to decipher their meaning; he flipped the book over and looked in the back cover, staring at the name of the cadet it had been assigned to.

Eren Jaeger.

Sheer terror engulfed Armin as his eyes flitted between the two words. _Eren… Jaeger?_ He glanced back towards the body, eyes displaying true horror. The carcass's brown hair blew in the slight breeze, billowing over its clouded, green eyes in strands. Armin stared at it solidly, unmoving, his hands freezing to the journal as tears began to fall from his eyes.

 _Armin, get a hold of yourself!_ The thought was unexpected, and Armin's eyes hardened. _This person had a white horse, Eren's was brown…. And Eren isn't even literate, he wouldn't write in his journal and form actual words. Eren would rather stick to what he's good at than risk trying something like deception, and he's conscious of Mikasa following him everywhere, so he wouldn't risk putting her in immediate danger, either. Our journals are kept in our backpacks, too; this can't possibly be Eren. But if that's the case, then why did this person have Eren's name in his journal? And what did he write in there?_

The blonde backed away from the carcass, placing the journal in one of his belt pockets for later studying. _I have to get going. If I don't, the Scouts will return to the Walls without me. I don't want to think about what would happen if I were to be stuck in Titan territory permanently. Maybe Han_ _ge_ _can help me analyze the journal when I return- then maybe we can get on the right track regarding the traffickers._ He mounted his new horse without hesitation, gathering the reins in one hand and drawing a blade from his gear with the other. The cadet turned, cantering his horse away from the carcass, leaving it to be buried in the snow alone.

Adrenaline and instinct began to worm their way into Armin's head, and he embraced them with open arms. If he was going to survive in Titan territory, he would need to be on alert for signs of danger and food; the chances of finding prey in this weather were miniscule, and he knew that food needed to be his first priority. He had two ration packs, but that was it- after that, there'd be nothing. The blonde glanced down at his drawn blade. _Finding food hopefully won't be necessary. The Scouts aren't that far away from the Walls; all I have to do is find the village, and then I can go from there back to Wall Rose. Since I'm dressed up as a trafficker, I might be able to work my way through the Utopia district without conflict. After that, I'll be able to return to Trost… but I won't get ahead of myself. Finding the Survey Corps is going to be difficult, but I can do it._

… _._

 _Where is he?_ The girl urged her horse forward, her black eyes scanning the gaps between the buildings. She'd swept the village for clues twice now, but had found nothing of interest; the search appeared hopeless, but she continued forward regardless, her red scarf blowing behind her as she steered towards the center of the road.

"Well!?" a gruff voice exclaimed, and a silhouette came from behind her, steering its horse towards her. It was Eren; his teeth were gritted, green eyes blazing. "Have you found anything yet?"

"I'm sorry, I haven't," Mikasa replied, eyes steady.

"Hey!" The call rang through the air, and Sasha, Connie, and Jean arrived on horseback, all of them having decided to help Eren and Mikasa. Sasha's smile was infectious as she pointed towards the outskirts of the village, breath swirling in the air as she nudged her horse forward. "Connie and I found some ripped cloth that looks like it came from one of our uniforms, and Jean found-"

"I found blood," Jean interrupted, golden eyes narrowed. His hands were clenched tightly around his reins, expression severe. "A lot of it, too. There was obviously a struggle."

"It wasn't Titan blood, either," Connie added. "It's next to where Sasha found the cloth, too!"

"Then it looks as though we have a lead," Mikasa replied, reaching a hand up and tugging her red scarf over her nose. "Sasha, show us where it is."

The brunette gave a quick nod and kicked her horse to a strong trot, steering towards the outskirts and leading the four others towards the crime scene. Her golden eyes shone in the brilliant light, revealing her excitement; the feeling was tangible as the small group quickly made their way forward. Jean was lagging behind the rest of the group, eyes downcast and teeth gritted; unlike the others, he seemed conflicted about the situation, as though he couldn't quite grasp what he'd seen. Mikasa was also having doubts, but she kept her head held high; she knew they would find Armin, no matter what it took. _He didn't disappear into thin air. Something happened, and we're going to find out what._

Sasha began to stop, and the others followed her lead, slowing down significantly as they approached the red snow. Jean had been correct; the white was streaked with red in several places, the snow upturned and kicked about. Mikasa's eyes narrowed; she'd seen that kind of splatter before. It was all too familiar to her, and she found herself dismounting her horse, walking towards the blood with a scowl. Her horse began to walk after her, but Eren grabbed its reins before it could move, holding them close as he watched his sister. She could feel his eyes on her; she knew he was wondering what she was doing. _I'll show you._

"Someone was hit," Mikasa explained, standing over the bloodstained snow with wide eyes. "This was a coordinated attack between two or more people. Armin was with Eren when the Titans attacked, and was gone when they were defeated." The black-haired girl took another couple of steps forward, stepping over the blood and kneeling down next to a grey strip of cloth that was stuck to a sliver of wood. She reached down, carefully plucking the piece off of the wood and holding it in her hands. It was the same color as her coat, and made from the same outer material; no doubt it was from a uniform.

"Does that mean he was eaten by a Titan?" Connie's question was hushed, as though the clean-shaven boy didn't want to believe his words; Mikasa shook her head, causing him to tense even further.

"This doesn't look like a Titan attack," Jean muttered. "The footprints are too small, and the blood's the wrong shape. If he were eaten by a Titan, there would be drops, not streaks, and the snow would be less turned up and more flattened from the Titan's foot."

"This is the work of humans," Mikasa agreed solemnly. "Someone hunted him down like an animal and took him, dead or alive. It appears to have been done by an organized party, as well- there are a lot more footprints than just three sets. Look closely and you'll be able to see them through the snow."

"Any one of us could be attacked," Connie murmured, eyes widening. "At any time. Whoever did it- whoever took Armin- could come back for more. None of us are safe."

"Congratulations, Connie, you've stated what we're all thinking," Jean replied, voice low. He still looked downcast, with his eyebrows furrowed and his hands clenching the reins to his mount. "If the Titans weren't already enough to send us over the edge, now we're dealing with a human threat. Great."

"Does that mean we're being hunted?" Sasha asked, her expression falling and her brown eyes displaying fear. "Like animals?"

"No, don't say that, any of you!" Eren exclaimed. Mikasa stood, turning towards him with the cloth held firmly in her hand. _What?_

"We're not just going to sit back and let ourselves be picked off, are we?" the brown-haired boy continued, his green eyes blazing. "That's not how it works! We're soldiers, not cattle!"

"So what?!" Jean snapped, eyes glistening. "We're being targeted, this was no accident! Use your head for once and think! If we keep looking for Armin, we'll stand a stronger chance of running into the wrong kind of people, the kind that took him in the first place. We either leave or receive the same fate, you hear!?"

"Both of you, stop," Mikasa growled, glaring at her bickering comrades. "Eren, we can't rush into this without knowing who we're up against. We'll be severely outnumbered-"

"Does that mean you're giving up!?" Eren shouted, balling his hands into fists. "You're all cowards, all of you!" He slammed his feet into the sides of his mount, tossing the reins to Mikasa's horse aside as he turned in the direction of the bloodstains. "Fine, stay here and let yourselves die. I'm going after Armin!"

Mikasa rushed forward, grabbing her reins before her horse could take off. She jumped atop her saddle and urged her animal forward, her black eyes narrowed as she raced after Eren's disappearing form. _I won't let you do this alone, no matter what._

"Not you, too, Mikasa!" she heard Jean holler behind her, but she kept going, focused on keeping her eyes trained on her adoptive brother. Her hand clenched the strip of cloth tightly, not letting go of it; _as long as you're both with me, I know I can live through anything that happens to me._


	4. Chapter 3- Erkenntnis (Discovery)

**Author's Note: I'm sorry about the long wait between chapters, everybody! My schoolwork really has taken up the majority of my time, and I'm sorry to say that it'll be that way for the rest of the year. Please, be patient; there's a lot more coming. Reviews are much appreciated!**

"Eren."

Mikasa's calm voice reached Eren, and the brunette slowed his horse, allowing his adoptive sister to catch up to him. They had been riding for several hours, and not a single sign of Armin could be found; it was almost as though he'd simply vanished into thin air, leaving behind a single strip of cloth and quite a bit of blood. Eren's eyes lowered; he knew what Mikasa was going to say.

"Eren, I think we should stop."

"And why's that?" Eren's teeth clamped together, and he pulled his mount to a stop, his black-haired sister doing the same with hers.

"It's getting dark. In this weather, being stuck outside will only cause us more problems. We should turn back."

"We've stayed out in the dark before," came the growled response. Mikasa's words were building rage inside of the boy; _we can't just leave Armin! I'm not going to give up on him that soon!_

"It wasn't snowing then."

"It's just a little cold, Mikasa. It's never hurt anyone."

"Yes, it has. You know it has."

Eren let out a low growl of frustration. "So you're giving up?"

"Wrong, Jaeger," a familiar voice grunted, causing the boy to freeze in place. _Captain Levi?_

"We wanna save Armin just as much as you do," another voice murmured, and Sasha circled her horse around Eren's, seemingly appearing out of thin air. "But it's really cold out here… we should really wait until morning."

"Or you can freeze to death, your choice." Jean's gruff voice pierced Eren's ears, and he scowled, fists clenching around his reins. The snowfall had increased, falling in large, gentle flakes against the frozen ground; a small breeze blew into Eren's face, the biting cold pricking at his skin. He felt confused at the sudden appearance of his friends, and even more confused as to why he hadn't noticed their arrival.

"Why are you even here?" he muttered, keeping his tone respectful due to Levi's presence. Despite his anger, Eren couldn't bring himself to snap at the man; for once, he controlled his tone, keeping a level head. _How'd you catch up to me so quickly?! I know you're humanity's strongest, but there's no way you guys could reach me that fast, unless…_

"You're important," Levi stated flatly, rigged in posture and hands slightly raised above his horse's withers. His grey eyes, however narrowed, seemed to pierce into the boy's soul; Eren instantly found his anger dying. He knew that Levi had been tasked with keeping an eye on him; _I should have known he'd come after me._ Levi's stare was enough to prove his point. The brunette glanced around; the group had, almost literally, appeared out of nowhere, as though they had simply materialized from the light snow. Their expressions were clear: they had come to help.

"We're a team," Krista piped up, her brilliant blue eyes sparkling as she smiled at Eren. "We stick together, no matter what!"

"That's my girl!" Ymir exclaimed, patting the blonde on the back with a wide grin.

"Krista's right," Connie smiled, golden eyes hardening with determination. "If Armin's in trouble, he can count on us to get him out of it!"

Eren couldn't help but feel astonished. _It doesn't matter how they caught up to Mikasa and I,_ he slowly began to realize. _What matters is that they're going to help look for Armin. We'll find him in no time with their help._ Any remnants of his frustration with Mikasa vanished, entirely replaced by the overbearing feeling that he was not alone. His lips curled upwards in a grin, and he furrowed his brow, taking on a look of pure resolve. "Alright," he said, green eyes brightening significantly.

"Now we need to focus on getting out of this damn snow," Jean huffed, reaching up and tugging his hood further over his head. "And a campfire would be nice right about now."

The wind was beginning to die down, snowflakes coming in fewer intervals; it appeared as though they wouldn't have to battle the weather for much longer. This came as a relief to Eren, who turned his head towards the sky with a small frown; while it had only been snowing for one day, the snowfall had been heavy, and battling the cold that would inevitably come with nightfall on top of the deep snow would take as much as energy as possible. The boy began to see the logic in stopping; continuing as he'd wanted would only result in a slower pace, and should they happen to come across Armin, there would be a strong likelihood of his being dead. The sooner they built up their energy, the sooner they'd be able to head out again; and the sooner they'd be able to head out again, the sooner they'd rescue Armin and get to the bottom of who kidnapped him. Eren let out a long breath, turning once more to look at his comrades.

"We won't be setting up camp here, and we won't be sleeping the entire night, either. If we plan on finding Armin alive, then we'll be leaving at around midnight. Understood, cadets?" Levi stared the others down, his expression unreadable. Eren felt a cold shiver run down his spine; Levi's calm demeanor didn't match his words. If any signals were being passed from Levi to Eren, they weren't being deciphered; Eren only felt more confusion arise.

"Why aren't we sleeping the entire night?" Connie asked, just as confused as Eren. "Don't we need to build up as much energy as possible? Leaving at midnight won't help us, we'll still be exhausted!"

"Look," Mikasa replied simply, looking up; curious, Eren also glanced towards the clouds, wondering what she meant.

"Yeah? So? It's just the sky," he said, furrowing his brow.

"The clouds are clearing," Sasha said, a smile growing on her soft face. "It'll be completely clear by midnight if they keep going at this rate, and we'll be able to look for Armin without worrying about snowfall!"

"Makes sense," Jean added, golden eyes narrowing as he surveyed the sky. "It'll be a lot easier to search if we don't have to deal with snow blowing into our eyes constantly. Sure, we'll get less sleep than if we sleep the whole night, but the outcome'll be worth it."

"It's pretty sad that Mikasa and I are the only ones who caught on," Ymir commented, wrapping an arm around Krista's shoulders. The freckled cadet had a matter-of-fact expression; Eren found himself slightly irritated with her smugness, but he let it go. He had other things to focus on.

"Then let's hurry and get some sleep," the boy suggested, not acknowledging the brunette girl's words. "The sooner we sleep, the sooner midnight'll come!"

"If you want to sleep, go ahead," Ymir replied. "I'm going to eat something; I, for one, don't like starving. Only idiots would give up eating for a night." She reached into her bag, hand grasping a ration package and pulling it out.

Sasha's mouth began to water, and she also grabbed one of her rations, her brown eyes wide as she carefully began to unwrap it. The brown packaging drifted to the ground, and the girl shoved the bread into her mouth, gnawing through it with ease. The others began to follow suit, and Eren felt his heart drop; he was disappointed that they weren't rushing to bed, but it made some sort of sense. Building energy was the entire reason they were stopped, and eating would help in that aspect. Despite knowing this, the brunette hesitated; unbeknownst to him, he was worrying about his friend slightly more than he had initially been.

"Are you not hungry?" Levi asked, stare unmoving from Eren. The cadet gave a slight headshake, reaching for his own brown package.

"No, I am," he said, beginning to tear the paper away from the vile-tasting food inside. Levi's only response was to turn away; Eren forced himself to eat, biting into the disgusting bread with a grimace.

And many, many miles away, a certain blonde cadet began to chew into one of the rations he'd stolen, regret hanging heavily on his heart.

…..

The overhead stars twinkled brilliantly on the world below, the full moon casting a silver glow over the still world. The snow glittered, the white-laced leaves rustling ever so slightly; in a tall tree rested Armin, his blue eyes heavy and his blonde hair falling over his resting face. His breath swirled in front of him as he breathed, chest rising and falling slowly. He wasn't quite asleep; it seemed as though, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't bring himself to drift off. The clouds had long since cleared; not one could be seen in the vast night sky.

 _It'll be fine,_ he thought, eyes slowly raising to focus on the trillions of twinkling stars above him. _I won't die out here, everything'll go to plan._ The thoughts were fuzzy and unfocused; exhausted weighed heavily on the boy's shoulders, and his eyes slowly began to close, though he remained conscious.

He wasn't expecting to be disturbed.

…

"Wake up." Mikasa's sharp voice- as well as her shaking his shoulders- snapped Eren awake almost immediately; he startled, leaping to his feet and striking out with his fists wildly, eyes blazing and mouth hung open in an unfinished scream.

The black-haired girl immediately backed out of harm's reach, allowing her brunette brother to come to his senses. Eren calmed slightly as soon as he took a look at where they were. The dark sky was dotted with stars, the full moon illuminating the world in silver; it'd be easy to find their way around with everything so brightly lit. They had set up camp in a small clearing, with snow-topped trees surrounding the group on all sides. Thick foliage offered decent cover from predators, while a small, frozen stream offered fresh water.

"Don't stand around," Levi said, approaching the two on horseback. His bags were completely packed, his black horse pawing at the ground impatiently; it was clear that they would be leaving immediately. The camp, Eren noticed, had already been packed, save for his own personal belongings; his friends were on their horses, waiting with obvious impatience.

"Yes, sir," Eren replied to his superior, quickly firing out a military salute before getting to work. His hands fumbled as he shoved his sleeping bag into his backpack, green eyes determined; they were finally leaving. As soon as he had finished, he stood, heading towards his idle horse with clenched fists. He noticed that Mikasa had joined the others, and Levi rode forward as he climbed into his saddle.

"Follow me closely. If you see something, don't hesitate to tell me about it," the captain ordered, earning a chorus of 'Yes, sir!' He took off, and the others followed behind him as they trampled through the foliage and between tree trunks. Shadows crept from the trees, casting their intimidating forms over the snow; uneasiness spread through the cadets like wildfire, with Ymir riding closer to Krista and Mikasa shadowing Eren. The icy air blew into their faces as they rode, and the cadets found themselves pulling their crimson masks over their faces, shielding their noses and mouths from the cold. The feeling that something was wrong only grew stronger the further they rode; without warning, Levi pulled his horse to a full stop, startling the cadets as they scrambled to follow suit.

Human bodies and wagons were strewn about the forest floor like ragdolls; blood was splattered on every surface, splintered wood littering the ground and making it hazardous to ride further. Massive, white horses lay strewn across the ground, fallen with their riders. A small gasp escaped Krista's lips, her finger pointing towards the symbols that the bodies brandished.

Green unicorns. The Military Police.

"Why are they wearing white?" Jean mused, golden eyes narrowing. "And what's with the white horses and wagons?"

"Camouflage," Sasha whimpered, pulling her reins and backing up a few steps. "They blend in really well… they must have been killed by Titans…"

"That's right, isn't it?" Jean muttered, expression forlorn. "These Titans work in packs."

"Wait, what are the Military Police doing in Titan territory?" Connie asked, confusion crossing his eyes. "Isn't that out of their jurisdiction or something?"

"They obviously aren't the real Military Police," Ymir pointed out, causing everybody to look at her with mixtures of confusion and interest. Though her mouth was not visible, Eren knew she was smirking. "It's not a secret or anything."

"They're hiding behind their cloaks like terrified children," Levi muttered, eliciting quite a few hesitant glances from his comrades. The soldier rode his horse forward slightly, grey eyes revealing nothing as he stared down at the bodies. "Cadets, search the bodies for Armin, but keep it quick. We're on a timed schedule."

Eren felt his heart drop to his feet at the order. He dismounted his horse, holding the reins in one hand and hesitantly approaching a body. Carefully, he reached down, lifting the person's hood and revealing messy, black hair. Without a single word, he moved on to the next, looking carefully for any signs of his friend. Something caught his eye as he turned one of the many bodies over; he frowned, peering closer as dread weighed his heart down.

This person had been shot.

The brown-haired boy backed away slightly. _Titans don't shoot people, people shoot people. Someone turned on this guy. But why? And did the attacker live? Are we dealing with a human threat?!_ His eyes frantically moved between the other corpses, searching for more bullet wounds; although there were none, two other cadavers bore fatal wounds on their necks, the signs of suffocation clear. The rest of the bodies displayed injuries quite clearly caused by Titans.

 _That means someone had time to kill these two,_ Eren thought. _No, these three- slaughtered by people! The last thing we need is to be facing off against people!_

"Nothing over here," Jean called.

"Same," Connie and Sasha both reported.

"Nope, we got nothing," Ymir called, mounting her horse once again, to which the other cadets followed suit.

Mikasa rested a hand gently on Eren's shoulder. "He isn't here," she said; her words offered a small amount of comfort to the boy regarding his friend, but the knowledge that three people had been murdered remained vivid. He clambered back onto his horse, Mikasa hopping onto hers without batting an eye. Their search remained unsuccessful, but they'd established that Armin wasn't among the dead.

"Mikasa, three of those guys were killed by another person." The boy's words tumbled over themselves as he alerted his sister to the situation, green eyes wide.

"I'm sure Armin wasn't killed by anyone," came the response. "It's fine; they wouldn't risk hurting their stock."

"This damn cold's getting to me," Connie muttered, reaching into his backpack and pulling a pair of goggles over his eyes. Hange had given each of the cadets an extra pair of goggles in case they needed to protect their eyes from the freezing wind; Eren silently agreed with his friend, and he, too, reached into his bag, pulling on his own set. Mikasa's distant response to his troubles at least told him that she had listened; maybe she was right. The boy watched as his comrades pulled their goggles on; _maybe I just worry too much._

"Then we'll procee-." Levi was cut off sharply by loud footsteps sounding to his right. He turned, prompting Eren to do the same; something large was approaching.

"Aaaaaaaah…." Sasha let out a low, nervous gasp, pulling back on her reins sharply and forcing her horse to back away from the source of the sound.

"Impossible," Jean growled, hands tightening around his reins. "Titans don't move during the night-"

"Turn back," Levi snapped, yanking his reins to the side and slamming his heels into his horse's sides. It reared, surging forward at a quick gallop; nobody needed to be told twice as the first Titan smashed through the trees clumsily. Its deformed, skinny body loomed over the cadets as they took off in the opposite direction; it was only 4 meters, but was threatening nonetheless as it was joined by three other similarly-shaped Titans.

Levi reached to the back of his horse, unlatching the box that held his maneuver gear and quickly bolting the metal to his straps. Jean followed suit, as did Mikasa and Eren; the brown-haired boy fumbled to latch his gear on, frustration mixing with anger as the Titan group gave chase.

"What the fuck?!" Jean exclaimed as his hand slipped; one of the sheaths began to slide down the side of the saddle, and the boy leaned over, trying to grasp it before it could fall. He foot slipped out of the stirrup, and he tumbled off of his horse head-first, rolling directly into the path of the Titans.

Before anyone could do anything, a figure leaped from the high branches of a nearby tree, the hooks of three-dimensional maneuver gear piercing through the flesh of the leading Titan. Swords slashed and spun, and in seconds the Titan hit the ground sideways, causing the others to trip over it and allowing the figure time enough to swoop down on Jean. The person wrapped its arms around the cadet, zipping up into a nearby tree and disappearing from view.

The figure had been wearing what the bodies in the forest were wearing, the only exception being that goggles and a white scarf had been put on their face. There was not a doubt in Eren's mind that the person was an affiliate of the group that'd been decimated by the Titans. The dread returned as he made a realization; _that might be the one who killed those three! And if they are…_

"Sasha, Connie, you two take out the remaining Titans. I'm going after Jean," Mikasa practically growled, placing the last bolt in her gear and shooting her hooks into the closest tree, leaving Levi no chance to protest. She jumped off of her horse and propelled herself forward and upwards, activating the gas and landing on an upper branch. Eren felt his heart clench; _I can't lose both of you!_ Without a word, he shot his hooks at the same tree, activating his own gas and rushing through the air after his adoptive sister as Levi took care of the remaining enemies.

They were quick to come upon Jean, but the stranger was nowhere to be seen. Eren landed on the branch and sheathed his sword hilts, rushing towards his comrade and kneeling down. "Well? What'd he do to you?"

"Nothing," Jean muttered, seemingly in shock at all that'd happened. "He did nothing. Just dropped me off and left. I don't get it, the Military Police are supposed to hate us-"

"And his face?" Mikasa took a step forward, standing behind Eren and pulling her mask further over her nose. "What did his face look like?"

"He had it covered," Jean replied. "I couldn't really make out any details. He had goggles and a scarf on."

"Like the goggles Hange issued us?"

"No, these ones had black lenses. I wonder how he was able to see…"

"We should report this to Captain Levi," Mikasa said, approaching Jean and helping him to his feet. "I'll go ahead. You two figure something out." Without another word, she shot her hooks at a nearby tree and took off, leaving the two cadets behind.

"Can you walk?" Eren asked, forgetting his usual hatred of his comrade. Jean gave a nod and quickly scrambled down the tree, landing on his feet in the cold snow below. Eren followed suit, and the two walked in silence in the direction of their friends, with Eren shadowing Jean in case he had trouble walking. The squad wasn't that far away; after all, they'd stopped when the Titans fell, so the two boys arrived in no time at all.

All four Titans had been killed, and the cadets were standing on the ground, having been waiting for Eren. Levi and Mikasa had just finished speaking, and the black-haired girl quickly joined her brother, shadowing him silently. The captain stood with folded arms, eyes locked on Jean and Eren.

"Jean, did you retrieve your gear?"

"No, sir," the teenager replied honestly.

"Go get it."

The cadet obeyed without a single word, turning and quickly rushing towards the place where he lost his sheath. Ymir took a step forward, crossing her arms over her chest and letting out a low huff. "Well, that was fun."

"Are you serious?!" Eren exclaimed, clenching his fists and taking a step forward. "One of us almost died!"

"Eren," Mikasa warned, grabbing his coat hood and pulling him back. "This is not the time for you to be getting worked up."

"Mikasa said that the person who saved Jean was wearing that white Military Police uniform," Connie piped up, clearly trying to understand what was going on. "Why would a trafficker or whoever the hell that person was leave the person they kidnapped?"

"Maybe they've got their morals set straight," Ymir replied.

"Yeah," Jean grumbled, returning to the group. His hands fumbled at his sides as he finished bolting his gear to his hips, the cold clearly altering his movements. "And I'm a horse."

"Jean," Levi said, turning his head to look at the brown-haired cadet. "You came in contact with this person. Was there anything odd about his movements?"

 _Why would Levi want to know that?_ Eren wrinkled his brow, but said nothing as his comrade responded.

"Yes, actually," Jean responded, tone becoming thoughtful. No doubt his expression was the same. "He was having trouble carrying me. In fact, we both tumbled a few times before he landed and dropped me off. Seemed pretty normal at the time since I wasn't paying attention, but looking back on it, it looks like he's pretty weak."

"Then he would have every reason to leave without confrontation," Mikasa murmured. "We're soldiers. We're strong, probably a lot stronger than whoever it was that saved Jean. He'd stand no chance against us in combat."

 _Hey, wait a second._ "What if he was just watching us to see how dangerous we are?" Eren's eyes widened, and he found himself grinning as another idea came to mind. "So that he could report back to his squad and organize the next attack!"

"When'd you get smart?" Ymir commented. "I must have missed part of your development."

"Eren makes a point," Jean slowly replied. "They already took Armin, who's to say they aren't lying in wait for their next chance at taking another soldier? It makes sense that we'd ring up a better price on the market than regular civilians, so of course they wouldn't want to stop at just one."

"And he left you on the tree because he couldn't carry you all the way back to his camp without dropping you," Sasha realized. "He's going to tell his friends about us and our location so that they have more strength to attack us!"

"But aren't his friends dead?" Connie asked, voice quaking. "They got taken out by a horde of Titans."

"Who's to say there aren't more?" Jean muttered. "It wouldn't make much sense to send only one patrol out, not with such dangerous bounty."

"I know what the traffickers are like," Mikasa spoke up. "They'll lay down their lives if it means their organization gets paid in the end. Of course they'd risk their lives to take soldiers who are unfamiliar with their surroundings. It's an advantage on their part."

 _They'll lay down their lives if it means their organization gets paid,_ Eren repeated mentally, tensing as he recalled the terrible day that he'd had to save Mikasa from the traffickers they'd encountered. _The stupid bastards have nothing to lose except a goddamned paycheck. They wouldn't hesitate to try to kill someone who tried to defend themselves…_

"So then Armin might have been sold into slavery by now," Connie murmured, head bowing slightly. "We don't stand a chance of getting him back."

"That's not true!" Krista spoke without warning, tone hopeful and determined. "We can do this, you guys! Don't give up so soon! Things might sound pretty bad, but think about it- we have information about our enemies now!"

"She's right," Jean said as Ymir draped an arm across Krista's shoulder. "That's not the right attitude to have, Connie. We just have to learn as much as we can about the traffickers before it's too late to get Armin back."

"We can try following the one that got Jean," Eren suggested, heart racing. _This is actually happening. We're going to get you back, Armin!_ "But we'll need to be careful. I found three bodies back there that were killed by someone- two had crushed throats while the other one had a bullet wound. The one we saw might have been the one to kill those three, which means-"

"Which means he might be against the others, affiliated with a different organization," Jean interrupted. "Either way, it's safe to say he's a trafficker."

"So then we're following him?" Connie asked.

"Captain Levi, what do you think?" Jean turned towards the black-haired soldier, as did the others. They were practically holding their breaths; Levi's word would be law, and would determine whether they went after the traffickers or not.

"You've talked it out," the soldier replied, stare unmoving from Eren. "You know the answer."

"We'll need to stick to the ground," Mikasa stated. Though her goggles hid her eyes from full view, Eren could tell she was looking at him. "We can't afford to give up our horses at a time like this. While we don't know who that person was, or where they're headed, we may be able to track them."

"There should be footprints in the snow where you guys landed," Sasha piped up. "I can help!"

"Yeah, Sasha's tracking skills are as good as her appetite," Connie commented. "We'll find this guy in no time at all with her on our side!"

 _Alright, Sasha,_ Eren thought as he climbed atop his horse. The moon was still high in the sky, the world still illuminated in a bright silver color; sight would not be a problem, especially not with the white snow contrasting against the dark atmosphere. _Let's go get our friend back!_

….

The horde of Titans was certainly unexpected. Armin watched three to four small Titans pass his tree, his blue stare unmoving from their massive bodies. _Three to four meters,_ he thought, hands clenching the hilts of his swords tightly. _Not as big as the Colossal, in any case, but still dangerous. Any Titan has the ability to kill, no matter the size. Still, these might be small enough for me to keep careful watch over…_ The boy reached into his belt, pulling out the journal he'd found on the body of the teenager he'd killed. Flipping to an empty page, he reached a hand inside of his new belt, fumbling around for something he could use to write.

As the odds would have it, there was nothing.

 _I need to take notes, or I'll have nothing to show Erwin._ The cadet began searching his pockets, still coming up with no pencil or pen; he gave up the search, instead turning to look for something he could possibly turn into a writing utensil. _Maybe if I whittle a stick and use something natural for ink… but what can I use? Maybe something'll come up while I'm following them._ He hesitantly placed the journal back into his belt before turning towards the nearest tree. Placing one foot in front of the other, he lowered himself, preparing to jump; tree-hopping would be the safest way to follow the Titan horde, as the dangers of using maneuver gear in cold weather were not lost on him. The boy pushed off of the branch, scaling the distance between the two trees easily and landing without injury. The small group of Titans continued to move, ignoring the short cadet to their right; it appeared as though they were focused on something, as though they were showing slight intelligence…

 _Aberrants, maybe?_ As Armin followed them through the trees, he began to notice more and more details regarding this strange group. _They move like people… they aren't just walking for the sake of walking, they're walking with a purpose. But they're not shifters, are they? Their eyes are glassy, like they're not using sight, and they don't look like they know where they're going. What ARE they!?_

He was certainly confused as he followed them, his thoughts distracting him from the pain that began to resurface in his arm. He'd completely spaced removing the bullet; it would certainly cause major difficulties in the future should he continue to ignore it, and it appeared as though this would be the case. The dull throbbing he felt was a sure sign that infection had begun to set in; problem was, even if he did manage to remove the bullet, the resulting wound would be larger and more difficult to manage. It certainly seemed to be a grim situation as he latched onto the next branch; one could only hope that he'd find the Survey Corps in time.

The forest was thick enough for the branches of two trees to nearly touch, while still allowing room for small Titans to move; Armin found this convenient as he paused, resting and catching his breath while watching the Titans' behavior. Only when they began to slow down did the blonde recognize the distant sounds of hoofbeats and wheels against rocks; _the Survey Corps?! The branches on these trees are high enough to allow wagon clearance, and since they're going in a single-file line… but they didn't bring the wagons this trip. These have to be traffickers._ His thoughts were proven correct as the source of the noise rounded a corner; the familiar white wagon made him scowl, the riders on their large, white horses slowing as they took the bend in the road cautiously. It was almost as though they suspected something was ahead, as though they knew something was lying in wait…

Terror engulfed the boy as he realized what was about to happen. The Titans stepped forward, crashing out of the foliage effortlessly and blocking the wagon's path; the driver let out a horrified scream, yanking back on the reins and forcing the horse to screech to a stop. Few seconds passed, and in that time, the white-clad traffickers and roughly four-meter Titans sized each other up; the Titans let out low breaths, the traffickers holding theirs as fear spread like wildfire through their group. Armin clenched his hands together, staring at the scene from above with an acute knowledge of what would happen next. Thoughts began to clutter his head; _they're wearing their gear, they have time to take out the Titans! Why aren't they moving?_

It was only a matter of time before the first Titan rushed forward, roaring and diving towards the traffickers with outstretched hands. Screams echoed through the thick forest as people began to attempt escape, but their efforts were futile; the other Titans were upon them in seconds, and before long, blood was spraying. All Armin could do was watch as a massacre unfolded in front of him; the Titans flashed their jaws, smashing people between trees and ripping appendages with ease. The further on they went, the more crazed by blood they became; they lost any signs of intelligence as they bit and chewed and smacked their way through the forest. A foot crashed into the wagon, smashing it to pieces and causing the bodies on the inside- who Armin recognized to be the people he'd killed- to fling towards the ground. Blood splattered the trees and snow, painting the world crimson; the blonde cadet's horror only increased when he realized who the Titans would be targeting next.

 _Me. They're going to come after me, they'll make quick work of me…_ The icy air was beginning to sting his face, and he glanced down at one of the bodies. The person's head had on a white scarf and military-grade goggles; the temptation to take the supplies was enough to get Armin's feet moving. The corpse was close to his tree, and if he employed the use of his maneuver gear, he knew he'd be able to zip in and out of the danger zone quickly. _They're dead, they won't need it anymore,_ he thought as he grabbed the holsters to his swords and aimed them at the body. An idea dawned upon him, one better than the last; _I'll reel the body to my tree, thus keeping myself safe from both Titans AND the cold._ Deciding to go with it, he shot the hooks forth, watching them pierce clean through the body's chest; without activating the gas, he reeled the hooks back into their hookshots, and with them came the upper half of the corpse. The boy grabbed it and pulled it atop his branch, grabbing the desired clothing and pulling it on; the goggles, although cracked, would offer protection from the harsh winds that would inevitably surface, and the scarf began to warm his face almost immediately after he pulled it on. The lenses on the goggles were tinted, but Armin knew that that would come in handy for when the sun reflected off of the snow. _Thinking ahead wasn't enough to save them, but maybe it'll save me..._

Another thought crossed his mind as the Titans continued to rampage among the relatively large group of traffickers. _I might be able to find a pencil while they're distracted._ He pushed his hand into the person's coat pockets, fingers wrapping around another journal; curious, he pulled it out, pocketing it for later and continuing to search. Sure enough, the boy pulled out a small, broken pencil, the cheap kind that could be found at any marketplace. Although low-quality, a pencil was a pencil, and it would come in handy. Having everything he currently needed, he let the body drop, blue eyes returning to the Titans.

They had finished their meal and were staring directly at their next victim: him.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeh, no," Armin murmured, turning away from the enemy and unsheathing two blades. Without another word, he shot his hooks, activating the gas on his gear and pushing off of the branch. He'd aimed at a higher branch; all he needed to do was get to higher ground. Employing the use of his maneuver gear wouldn't be too dangerous if he kept the duration of its use short. When he reached his destination, he sheathed his blades and looked down at the Titans from his place atop the tree; they were surrounding the trunk, clawing at it and trying- and failing- to climb it. Low groans escaped their throats, their bloodstained jaws gaping and snapping at the air.

Never in his life had Armin felt more terrified, not even when the Female Titan threatened to step on him. He'd prefer an instant death over being torn apart limb by limb, the exact thing that these Titans threatened to do. His heart raced in his chest as he stared down at the creatures, shaking slightly from both shock at what he'd just witnessed and the fear of having it happen to him. _I don't want to end up a pile of rags and limbs... I still need to alert the commander of the presence of trafficker groups, and I still need to take notes!..._

Faint voices drifted towards him, and his head turned slightly, angled towards them. About eight people, all atop brown horses save for one, were riding towards the bloody sight, unaware of the immediate danger. They were coming from an odd angle; it would take the Titans several paces to reach them, but it would only be a matter of time nonetheless. Although they wore grey uniforms, complete with the Wings of Freedom, Armin wasn't fooled for a second; if the traffickers dressed as Military Police, then there'd be nothing keeping them from dressing as the other branches, especially not when their facades kept them in business. Regardless, the boy stared at the odd group, watching them as they came upon the bodies. They dismounted, entirely unaware of the danger deeper within their forest; they seemed to be searching for something among the devastation, or someone in particular, which in turn prompted a new thought to come to mind.

 _The Titans haven't noticed them yet. If I warn them, they'll be able to make it out of here before the aberrants get them, and I'll be able to observe their behaviors when they stop to rest... maybe I'll even catch a conversation or two._

He took a step forward, unsheathing his blades once again and crouching, preparing to leap to another branch.

That was when the Titans smelled their newest targets.

The creatures turned, blood dripping from their maws as they paused, nostrils flaring and teeth bared. The smallest of the four took a single step forward, its foot crashing through the thick foliage; Armin tensed, staring as it began to slowly make its way towards the group of talking traffickers. _Oh, no! The others are going to start following it.. I still have time, all is not lost._

The blonde pulled the scarf tighter around his face, tying a knot at the back of his head to keep it in place before aiming his hooks. _If something goes wrong with the mechanics, I can stop on a branch; so long as we don't get to a clearing, I should be fine…_ With a burst of gas, he fired the hooks, propelling himself forward and landing on a branch on the opposite side of the metaphorical graveyard. The traffickers had yet to notice him, their attention turning towards their right as the first Titan crashed through the brushline. It stood over them, hands clenched and head angled towards its quarry; with a shout, the group of people turned their horses, galloping in the opposite direction as the rest of the Titans appeared. Before he knew it, a chase was being given; hunter was pursuing prey, and Armin had no choice but to follow.

 _I can't afford to lose this chance,_ he thought as he zoomed through the trees, tailing the Titans closely with the help of his maneuver gear. While he understood the dangers, a judgement call had to be made; lose the Titans and allow the group of strangers to perish, or follow them and secure the chance of learning more about them?

Wasn't that his duty as a soldier? To prevent death and stop the monsters? Stopping the monsters meant learning about them, and he'd already learned about one of the enemies he was now faced with. He pondered all of these moral factors as he gave chase, keeping to the closely-spaced branches and maintaining a constant speed. The Titans were gaining on their targets, with the 3-meter leader reaching down to swipe at one of the strangers. Armin's grip on his swords tightened as he noticed that one of the traffickers was having trouble fastening his three dimensional maneuver gear; this practically screamed trouble, and before he knew it, the blonde was aiming his blades at the leading Titan, blue eyes glinting in the same manner as they had when he'd defended himself from his kidnappers.

He couldn't afford to miss as the grappling hooks embedded themselves in a tree directly in front of the first Titan.

With a spurt of gas, the cadet leaped from the snowy branch he'd landed on, arms outstretched and eyes focused on making the slice. He'd never killed a Titan before; the feeling of flying towards a living enemy was certainly different from the feeling of flying towards a wooden cutout, and he couldn't help but get a sense of exhilaration as he soared against the wind, ready to kill the enemy. The cables to his grappling hooks reeled him forward, and before he knew it, he was upon the humanoid figure; he slammed his arms down, forcing the blades to slice cleanly through the nape of the Titan's neck. It tripped over its own feet, crashing to the ground with a loud bang; the other Titans began to trip over their leader's body, roars escaping their throats as they scrambled to upright themselves.

Armin had known the instant he saw the struggling trafficker that they'd fall; his suspicions were correct as the person tumbled down the side of their horse, arms flailing to grab the saddle and a single gear sheath toppling away from its owner. The boy immediately reshot his hooks, curving towards the ground with another burst of gas and stretching open his arms. _Individuals aren't out of the dark- I'll keep all of them alive if I have to. I missed my chance last time, I won't make the same mistake here._

The boy landed with his feet, pushing himself forward and down so that he would be able to grab the trafficker. His attempts succeeded, and- holding the person bridal-style- he kicked up, zipping out of the way right as the second Titan smashed to the ground in the same spot. Although the stranger was certainly heavy, it wasn't too difficult for Armin to carry them up to a branch- at least, he didn't think so. He paused as he set the person down, leaning them against the trunk before turning to observe the scene.

Two other traffickers were using their maneuver gear, headed straight for him as one of the other traffickers slaughtered the three remaining Titans. The blonde's work here was finished; he zipped away from the approaching enemies, flinging himself through the trees. While he'd wanted to save others from certain death, he couldn't allow himself to be caught. Not again, and not with different trafficker organizations surely in rivalry. He was dressed as a Military Police trafficker; he didn't want to clash with the Survey Corps group, especially not after his risky escape from the people who'd made his initial capture.

After a few minutes of wasting gas, Armin turned off his gear, sheathing his swords and pausing to catch his breath. Looking back the way he'd come, he noticed that he had left deep tracks in the snow-covered branches; the traffickers would have no trouble chasing him should they decide to. With an inward groan, he unsheathed the blades once again and propelled himself up to a high branch, leaving the tracks behind in favor of the tops of the trees. From atop the natural structure, he could see everything; while the forest was thick, the leaves were spaced enough to allow a view of the ground below.

 _If they come after me, I'll be able to see them,_ he thought, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. For several moments, he sat, relaxing and catching his breath; he'd made his first Titan kill and had saved a potential enemy from certain death. It was a lot to take it. Finally, he began to think back to the things he'd collected.

 _I have a new journal,_ he thought, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the small booklet. It was the same kind as the one he'd taken from the Eren lookalike, and he opened it, hoping to use the unblocked moonlight as an aid in reading.

The first few pages were completely filled, and Armin decided that the best course of action would be to read one page per day, as a way to keep him busy while he searched for the Survey Corps. _I can always finish it with Hange._ What he wasn't expecting was to be reading his own name.

 _Not too many soldiers made it, and those who did, fled. I can safely assume the Survey Corps is now short of 120 personnel. I was assigned to the read guard, which was taken out first, followed by the relay teams and standby. I'm not sure about the status of the command, scout support teams, forward scouts, carts, or cart guard teams- I assume they suffered losses, but not nearly as many as we did._

 _We were accosted by a large group of people near the middle of the day. They were incredibly fast, and were able to dispatch us quickly enough to escape the Titans they brought with them. They used Titans as a lure, and since we were distracted, we only noticed them when it was too late. The people- who I suspect were working with the Garrison and Military Police- quickly made their escape, leaving us at the mercy of the Titans._

 _I'll be dead by the time this is found, so read carefully. This was no small accident, these people are out to get us. These aren't the traffickers, these aren't people who just want to make money off of us. If they were, they wouldn't have killed off so many soldiers. 120 people can reel in a fortune on the market, especially soldiers, but they were slaughtered like insects. That can only mean one thing: we're being systematically plotted against._

 _My time's running out. I can't remain hidden forever. The date is November 3rd, year 852. This was the 58th mission into Titan territory, conducted from the Utopia district and- due to unfortunate circumstances- finished just outside of Trost. I'd give context if I had the time for it._

 _My life is coming to an end, as is this entry. My legs are broken, and my head is pounding- likely from where I hit it when I hit the ground. I want you to know how I died because it is important- the Titans are showing intelligence. One of them kicked me off of my horse and picked me up, but it did not eat me, as I thought it would. Instead, it threw me into this forest, and where I landed is where I am now. It did not pursue me. It wasn't a deviant, nor was it a Titan-shifter- I have a gut feeling is was something in between the two. Either way, that information will be vital in the future._

 _My name is Armin Arlert, 16 years old and a soldier of the Recon Corps. Our mission status is unknown, but one thing is certain: we are under attack._

The text sent shivers down the boy's spine as he stared at the page. _What the hell?... I didn't write this, who the hell did? Is this the same thing as the Eren journal? No doubt about it, but why was that group keeping these? Who wrote in them? Why does this person know my birthday? It isn't November 3_ _rd_ _yet, is it? How could I miss my own birthday!? And this is a complete lie, that person was cut in half by a Titan, not kicked! And he didn't write any of this before his death! Were those people sent out of the Walls expected to die? Wait a second, that would make sense… to be sent outside with excused deaths, but why? What would be the use of putting in unnecessary effort? If the only goal was to grab Survey Corps members…_ The realization dawned on him quite suddenly. _We're not dealing with idiots here, these people know what they're doing! Nobody would think to suspect traffickers and illegal marketers if the soldiers kept written records of their missions, especially not if lookalike bodies were found next to the journals! By the time a Titan finished with them, there'd be little left to identify, so the bodies only had to sort of look like the soldiers of the Survey Corps… if the soldiers were found dead, then they'd be written off as deceased. Nobody would know they had actually been sold into slavery. But... how could they be so heartless as to send people out to die? Do the doppelgangers know what they're getting into? Are they placed into the most dangerous parts of the formation on purpose and told not to open their journals? Is it all deceit and trickery, just for a damned paycheck!?_

The discovery was sickening, and the boy stared at the page, a scowl growing on his face. _I need to observe them at work. Maybe they'll offer me some insight into their motives. The more I can learn, the better._

He'd been so busy focusing on the traffickers that he'd entirely forgotten about the harsh rumbling in his stomach; he hadn't eaten since a few hours prior, but it hadn't been enough to sate his hunger, and he knew that breaking into his last ration pack would be unwise. Instead, he opted towards a more leisurely resolution: hunting.

...

Armin had never excelled in hunting; as far as he was concerned, that was Sasha's specialty, not his own. As long as he could rely on his friends to help him get food, he would be fine; he wasn't expecting to be lost in an unfamiliar forest. _What would Sasha do? Well, she'd definitely use her nose, so maybe I could try that._ He pulled the scarf down below his nose, sucking in a large breath; this turned out to be a terrible idea, as it only resulted in a stinging nose and not a single scent of anything. _Smelling's out,_ he thought as he pulled the scarf back up. _What else? She might try looking for footprints, but really, I think smelling is her biggest aid in hunting. Damn it, why can't I be good at anything when I need to be!?_ He zipped to the ground, resting a hand against the sparkling snow and pulling his goggles onto his forehead. His eyes scanned the white blanket for any signs of disturbance; _maybe I'll get lucky and find a mouse._

A rustling in the bushes alerted him, and he grabbed his swords, crouching and ready to attack any animal that showed itself. A shiny, black nose poked itself out of the foliage, and a small deer appeared, its eyes sparkling as it took a timid step forward. Its brown pelt was speckled with white; it was obviously a fawn, and- in Armin's mind- wouldn't put up much of a fight.

The blonde immediately rushed forward, swords slashing; the deer was downed in an instant, and a feeling of triumph overcame him as he stared at its still form. _Yes! I did it! I have something to eat other than nasty ration bread and soup that tastes like shit!_ He grabbed the still body, lifting it with ease and tucking it under an arm, eyes scanning the bushes for the rest of the herd. Not another deer was in hearing or seeing range, and the blonde shrugged it off, aiming his hooks at the tree he'd decided to make his camp and activating his gas. Armin triumphantly zipped to the top branches, overwhelmed with joy; he hadn't had something good-tasting to eat for a very long time, and this would come as a nice change.

The sun was beginning to rise; it had been an interesting six hours, to say the least. The cadet glanced upwards, watching as streaks of pink and orange painted the horizon; he'd missed his chance to start a fire, and would have to wait until nightfall to use the darkness as a cover for smoke. He leaned back against the trunk of the snow-streaked tree, mind beginning to wander; quite a bit had happened that night, far more than what he'd expected- but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, after all. He'd learned more about the enemy than he could have ever hoped to imagine, he'd made his first Titan kill, and he'd secured food for himself for the coming days. With a grin on his face and a feeling of accomplishment, he closed his eyes, sleep engulfing him in an instant.

Though filled with destruction, life didn't always have to be miserable.


	5. Chapter 4- Elend (Misery)

**Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! I started focusing more on school than anything else, and haven't had much of a chance to write, let alone continue to flesh out this project. Thank you for your patience! Reviews are always appreciated! Special thanks to lifeon for helping me get back into the swing of things.**

"Damn it," Jean muttered, staring at his hands in anger. "I was close."

"Don't give up," Krista murmured, blue eyes downcast as she fiddled around with an empty ration package. Her voice wasn't all that hopeful. "At least one person should keep trying."

"I've been trying to catch something for five hours now," came the snappy response. "Four hours, Krista! Not a single nibble!" He didn't notice that he used the wrong number; he didn't care about what he said, so long as he got the point across.

"I can't believe you found the time to fish," Ymir commented from her spot in a tree branch. "While you've been busy failing, we've been making progress towards finding a bite to eat."

"It isn't my fault we ran out of rations!"

"No, but it is your fault that we haven't been able to eat today. Why can't you do something right for once?"

"Ymir-"

"Lighten up, Jean."

Levi stood by, watching with disinterest; Eren napped on a log, while Mikasa stood nearby, guarding the pond with her swords drawn. Nobody seemed to be in very happy moods; of course not. They'd had no progress in the four days that they'd been searching for Armin, and they'd ran out of rations while looking. Jean's suggestion to fish in the pond had been accepted with open arms; Ymir's sarcastic comments did not deter him from his quest, and he continued to try to catch something.

"Sasha," Mikasa said, perking up a bit as the girl zipped into the small clearing with her gear. A small hare was strapped to her back with strips of cloth. Connie came in behind her, carrying what appeared to be a piece of paper in his hand.

"We found food," Sasha beamed, untying the rabbit from her body and laying it down on a fallen branch. "And Connie found a clue!"

"Finally," Jean muttered, tossing the makeshift fishing rod aside and walking over to his short comrade. "What is it?"

"It's a journal page," Connie explained, showing the paper to Jean. "Talks about Titans and attacks on a squad."

"Hey, Eren," Mikasa said, walking over to the sleeping brunette and kicking him with medium strength in the arm. "We found something to help us find Armin."

"Oi," Eren grumbled, groggily sitting up and rubbing the impact spot. "What is it?"

"It's something that looks like a journal entry," Connie repeated as the Titan shifter approached. "It describes the Titans and how they attacked a squad."

"Any names?" Levi asked, butting into the conversation with his usual straight face. "Or dates?"

"If there aren't, then it's safe to assume that a trafficker wrote it," Ymir commented, approaching with narrowed eyes. She grabbed the paper out of Connie's hands, roughly shoving him aside as she walked towards Levi. "Maybe you can get something out of it, Captain."

Levi accepted the paper, holding it gently as though it would crumble upon contact. He stared at the words, looking them up and down; the cadets held their breaths, waiting for him to say something.

A moment passed before he looked up, folding the paper and pocketing it in his coat. "Ready the horses. We can cook the rabbit later."

"But Captain-"

"Now, Jean," Levi ordered, obviously not interested in receiving guff. He turned away from his comrades, surveying the surrounding forest; taking the hint, Jean turned towards the pond, walking towards the tree that the horses were tied to. Eren watched with confusion, as did Connie; what was Levi getting at? Why were they suddenly leaving? Hadn't they just arrived at the pond?

"Mikasa? Do you have any idea what's going on?" Sasha's voice wavered as she glanced at the black-haired girl, brown eyes wide. "Why are we leaving so soon?"

"Just get your horse," Mikasa replied quietly, following the others without looking at her friend. Something was definitely wrong; whatever Levi had gotten from the paper was quite clearly no good.

"Keep close, and don't stray from the path," Levi ordered, mounting his massive horse and bringing it to a slow walk. He stopped near a shadowy gap in the forest, watching the others as they circled towards him. "This place is not safe."

Stunned, they followed him blindly, all but Ymir sprouting mixed expressions of fear, confusion, and interest. The forest grew silent, the only sound being that of the horse hooves cracking through the snow and ice; no birds sang, no rabbits scuttled among the underbrush. The quiet air seemed to be a noise of itself; it was more frightening than peaceful. The wind began to pick up, weaving through the stripped branches of the forest in howls; Connie shivered, pulling his hood tightly around his head, and Jean scowled, teeth gritting against the cold air.

"Split up," Levi ordered. "Krista, Jean, Ymir, head to the left. Eren, Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, to the right. Put your gear on and wait for my command." Without another word, the man ushered his horse forward, silently slipping into the shadows and presumably leaving the cadets behind.

"What signal?" Sasha whispered hoarsely, to which Connie shrugged. The two groups split, hiding their horses behind trees and dismounting to gear up. It was painstakingly slow; they had to take their gloves off in order to fasten their gear to their straps, and the deadly quiet of the forest did not help matters.

Jean glanced up from his waist, eyes narrowing. _We're all in the dark here. All of us. What the hell is Levi thinking, leaving us like this? We'll be Titan dessert if we stay out for much longer, or worse, trafficker bait. They're after soldiers, so they'll be looking for us._ With a low grumble, he slipped on his gloves and grabbed the leather reins, waiting for someone to say something.

Anything to break the silence.

Nobody stepped up to the job; they all finished fastening themselves in, and they all did the same as Jean, waiting with their reins gripped tightly. It was as though they'd forgotten how to work individually; they moved formally, worked efficiently, and all without a single word. Fear wafted thickly through the two groups; despite being on opposite sides of the path, they all felt it, and they all bathed in it.

All they could now was trust that Levi had a plan that would work. He was their Captain, and they'd follow him anywhere, but they didn't appreciate being left without knowing what to do. _Unless it's something we already know,_ Jean mused. _Then there'd be no need for words. We'd have it covered already. Looks like we'll have to trust instinct on this one._

"Cadets, listen to me."

Levi's words brought Jean away from his thoughts, and he looked up to see the short man standing in the middle of the road, speaking quietly but throwing his voice towards the two groups. The long-faced cadet listened intently.

"When they roll through, keep hidden and don't make so much as a single noise. When I give the signal, attack, but don't kill anyone. That is an order- no fatalities today. Use your rope to detain them. Understood?"

Jean understood now. They were going to interrogate the traffickers about the paper! _Which means Levi's known this entire time that they'd be using this route. It must lead to one of the walls._

The teenager's excitement was short-lived. The distant rumbling of wooden wheels against rock sounded through the empty forest, and the cadets quickly leaped off of their horses, grabbing the ropes out of their saddlebags and hiding in the brambles and snow-covered underbrush with swords in hand. Levi stood in the center of the road, 3DMG barely visible and neatly tucked up under his grey coat. He sat down, waiting with crossed legs as the horses and carriages rolled into view. Everything was white, Jean noticed; the wood was painted white, the horses were white, even the uniforms were white. They'd clearly come prepared for snow.

The head of the formation called out to the others, who in turn called to the others, who called to the others; the word rang through the group, and they slowed, sliding into earshot and growing closer to Levi. Silence was replaced with the sounds of creaking wood and hoof beats against snow; the acrid stench of death penetrated the air, and Jean realized that the frontmost carriage was hauling bodies.

"Hello!" the head trafficker called, waving at Levi. "Need a lift? These are dangerous woods, you know!"

"Yes," Levi replied as the wagons formed a protective circle around him. The horseback riders taking up the rear dismounted, approaching the circle and leaving their horses to rest. They all wore the same white outfit: white mask, white goggles, white coat, white everything, and all sporting Military Police badges. Some of the traffickers were splashed with blood and chunks of gore, but were otherwise relatively unharmed.

And from what Jean could see, unarmed. But he knew it was a ruse; no person in their right mind would enter Titan territory without weapons of some sort, no matter how useless. The traffickers began to crowd around the wagons, but instead of entering the circle, they turned their backs to it, facing the forest; they formed a protective oval around the wagons, standing as still as stones. They were guarding the interior as though they'd done this before, as though their abductions were merely routine; every person had a job to perform, and these poor blokes were the guards.

The cadets weren't sorely outnumbered; there were six guards in all, many of whom appeared younger than 12 in stature. _I can take them blindfolded,_ Jean thought, a hint of sadness touching his heart. These were children; they were expendable. _You can always make more._

"Alright," the head trafficker finally said, bringing Jean out of his thoughts. "We'll take you home. Sorry to hear about your horse, and your expedition; I can only hope you'll make it home alive." And with that, a loud thump was heard, the sound of a body crumbling to the snow sounding. Jean met eyes with Ymir, who glanced at Krista, and they nodded, appearing out of the bushes and rushing the child guards. The other group followed suit; they didn't need a signal to know that someone had just been knocked cold.

The children reached into their pockets, pulling out knives; they were quick, but the soldiers were quicker, easily outmaneuvering them and using their ropes as a team. One of the guards nicked Jean in the waist with a knife, but he quickly slammed his elbow against the kid's temple, knocking them out long enough for him to tie them into the large formation of kicking and slashing children.

As soon as it had started, it was over; the scuffling of boots against snow and the slash of metal against cloth died, to be replaced with angry grumbling as the guards attempted to free themselves from the tangle of rope that kept them subdued. The adults in the middle appeared, curiosity in their eyes, and Jean, Eren, and Mikasa attacked, knocking one after another unconscious. It was easy work; not much of a fight was put up, and next to no blood was spilled. They used their remaining ropes to tie up the traffickers before dragging the white-clad group into the center of the wagon circle.

It was almost too easy. Levi was waiting, his arms crossed and his mouth set in a tight line. "Let's see what these children know, then," he commented, neither congratulating nor acknowledging the cadets' victory. The small group quickly lined each person up, and Sasha began to tie the adults in with the kids, creating a weave of rope that bound each person together by the waist and arms. Ymir rested her arm on Krista's head, and Mikasa shadowed Eren, everybody staring at the subdued traffickers as though they were looking into the eyes of one of Hange's Titans. These were enemies; they were humans, but they were enemies just the same.

"That was too easy," Connie triumphantly grinned, golden eyes shining. Sasha smiled, nodding her agreement, but Jean frowned. _That WAS too easy._ His eyes wandered towards the 'prisoners', and he stared at the way they held themselves, the way the unconscious were bent over their stomachs.

Too perfect. Too limp. Jean slowly began to approach, the sickeningly sweet smells from the death carriage suddenly putrid and sharp. Every sense was on alert; he could hear the wind brushing against the bare winter branches, he could taste the remnants of his last meal, he could see the traffickers breathing normally-

Wait, what? Why were they breathing normally? Everything began to click, and Jean backed away, eyes widening with horror. _Shit! It's a put-on!_ He flipped towards Levi, who caught his gaze with a similar expression.

"It's fabricated," Mikasa suddenly said, and it began to dawn on the cadets that they hadn't won. At all. Sasha exchanged a horrified glance with Connie, and Krista clung tightly to Ymir, blue eyes gleaming with fear. They hadn't only been duped, but they'd also been so caught up with their victory that they hadn't noticed that they were being watched.

Jean opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off sharply as something smacked him in the back of the head. Sharp pain seared through his head, stinging like the sharpness of a million knives piercing his brain. His eyes rolled forward, and he began to fall, the world spinning and fading into darkness. The last thing he saw before slipping into unconsciousness was a large rock, painted red with blood- his blood-, lying on the ground in front of him, sinking into the snow. Sasha screamed, Connie yelped, Ymir shouted, Krista cried, Eren roared, and Levi shouted something, but none of it mattered as Jean's world faded into darkness.

…..

When Jean opened his eyes again, much time had passed; it was dark, with millions of stars lighting up the black winter sky. He was in ropes, tied tightly to a log alongside his squad members. A fire crackled and blazed in front of him, the smell of smoke and burning meat searing his nostrils and making his eyes water; hunger snarled in his stomach at the mouthwatering scents, but he was thoroughly tied down. He had forgotten about the pain in his head, but it shortly returned, and he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut against the new wave of sharp stinging that coursed through his skull. The cold only made it worse.

"Look who's awake," a voice leered, and the distinct scent of bacon alerted Jean to the presence of food. Once again, his stomach growled, and he glanced up, staring at the man that loomed over him. He was dressed in white, and had slivers of meat poked onto a long stick. They were steaming, and he took excruciatingly slow bites, cruelly dropping chunks of chewed meat to the ground in front of Jean.

Sasha moaned, and Krista whimpered, but the cadets remained silent as the chatter of the traffickers washed over them. A ridiculously large group of people sat on logs around the fire, laughing and talking and giggling and joking as they ate. Mixed scents of food wafted over the cadets in waves; the warm firelight seemed to only encourage their hunger. They were surrounded on all sides by white wagons, some of which were streaked with blood. Despite this small detail, everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Sheila over there knocked you pretty hard on the noggin," the trafficker in front of Jean laughed, taking another gross bite out of his dinner. "We was trying not to hurt you, but you put up a fight, so we did what we had to do. There's no wound on ya that can't be healed." He laughed, taking another bite and chewing loudly. "See, we're paid to nab ya, but we'll torture ya for free. No payment necessary!"

This earned roars of laughter from the others, and Jean scowled. _Assholes in the books, assholes in person. I can't believe we were stupid enough to think we'd won. These guys have an organization; how could we forget? How could_ Levi _forget? Isn't he Captain Perfect or whatever?_ He glanced sideways, noticing that the captain was tied at the end of the log, subdued like the rest of them. _What the hell's up with him? Didn't he live by himself underground, facing starvation and beating thugs and killing evil for a living before joining the Corps? This should just be another Sunday afternoon for him! So why's he putting us and himself in danger? Surely this isn't a plan? If it is, it almost got me killed!_

"What, you thought your precious little leader would get out of this unscraped?" the trafficker laughed, noticing Jean's line of focus. "You really are out of yer league here. Hey, Bruce! Go ahead and show the tiny guy what's been comin' for him!"

A large, muscular trafficker grinned, nodding. "Sure thing, Cas." He approached Levi, raised a hand, and quickly backhanded him, laughing all the while. Jean cringed internally at the sick smack that sounded as flesh connected with flesh. "Not so strong now, are ya?"

Levi didn't respond. He was staring at one of the traffickers, a smaller one of a feminine build, who was watching the group from behind a mask and goggles. As a matter of fact, this one seemed disinterested in all activity except for that conducted by the cadets; they'd not taken off their hood, either, as though perpetually cold or something. Jean scowled. _Great, now Levi's picking targets. Weakest first, right?_

"Got the hots for her?" Bruce snorted, following Levi's eyes towards the young trafficker. "She's a beaut'. You should see her face! All beauty, not a touch o' bad in her. You'd just love to get your hands on her, touchin' her in the wrong places-"

"That's enough, Bruce," Cas giggled. It didn't take much for Jean to realize they were more than a little tipsy. "Don't get the lil' guy angry! He might squeal!"

"He'll squeal, all right, once he gets free and nabs precious over there…"

The two erupted into howling laughter, but Levi remained unfazed. He continued to stare at the petite trafficker, eyes locked on her. She remained unmoving, a metal tankard clasped in one of her mittens. She seemed tense; Jean suddenly found himself dying to see her face, to read in her eyes what she was _really_ thinking. He felt a shred of pity for her; the inappropriate comments seemed common.

"Hey, that's not nice," Connie snapped, surprising Jean into a jump. He flipped his head around to stare at the boy, who had surely incurred the full wrath of the traffickers, but they just kept laughing, with Cas dropping the stick of meat near Jean in an attempt to balance himself from falling over with laughter. Jean made his move, bending towards the ground and grabbing it in his mouth like a dog, gnawing quickly through the food and savoring every juicy bite before swallowing as quickly as he could. His stomach growled louder, and he found himself craving more, more, more… but he couldn't. He'd eaten all that he knew was good for him. He pressed the stick between his teeth and nudged Eren, offering it; the boy leaned towards Jean and took it between his teeth, nibbling a bit on the remaining meat before passing it along to the next person. They were a team; _I'll be damned if personal preference gets in the way of survival._

"Heeey, sweetheart," Bruce greeted as the covered girl walked over to the line of cadets. She was carrying a basket of burnt breads, and slipped easily past the two drunk men, offering each cadet a chunk of the charred treat. She briefly held Levi's gaze before moving on, hand-feeding each of the soldiers and giving Sasha a slightly larger portion than the others. When she got to Jean, she paused before giving him his ration, which he chewed through easily.

"Why are you so kind?" Eren asked, chewing through his own small portion as the girl finished feeding them and backed away. She didn't respond, inside moving back towards the log she'd been sitting on, throwing the rest of the bread into a supply box and sitting down. Levi continued to stare her down.

Bruce and Cas followed after her, collapsing on the log next to her and wrapping their arms respectively around her shoulders. They slurred inappropriate comments at her, to which she did not respond; she remained stiff, simply staring back at Levi with unseen eyes.

"That poor girl," Krista murmured, blue eyes pitiful as she stared at the trafficker. "She's being treated like trash… I wish I could take her place!"

"No, you really don't," Ymir snapped in response, also eyeing the girl. "Better her than us, she's the one who signed up for that crap job in the first place. If I weren't starving, I'd have told her to shove that bread right up her-"

"Ymir," Connie interrupted. "You're not helping."

"Sorry, sheesh," Ymir replied, shrugging. "Some people can't take a joke."

They fell once again into an uneasy silence, only now they were all watching the female trafficker. When she stood, the drunk traffickers slumped over her, she paused briefly, glancing once more at Levi before carrying the men away to their wagons. The other traffickers slowly followed, and as the crowd began to clear, Jean saw that this was a sort of base camp; hundreds of wagons littered the meadow, with dead forest surrounding them on all sides. They'd hit trafficker ground zero. They were left in the cold as a bucket of water was tossed over the fire, the warm light vanishing with it; Jean watched and listened as the head trafficker ordered the girl to stand guard that night, that it was her turn, that she'd done nothing to help yet and needed to prove herself before her ass was kicked, etc. The girl gave a single nod to each of his complaints before he finally left, and the world went silent save for the crunching of her boots as she approached the cadets.

She sat on a log and waited next to them while snores began to fill the air, and Jean's heart sank. This girl, whoever she was, was clearly intent on her job; she didn't move from her spot on the log, and although she had helped the cadets, she didn't make a move to free them. Jean's eyes narrowed. _I don't want to be sold into slavery. Who does?_ He could tell the other cadets were wondering the same thing.

 _With all of us working on this, we'll be able to get out of here in no time._

"Hey, Levi, why do you keep looking at her?" Connie finally asked. Sasha and Krista glanced up, eyes sparkling with curiosity, and Eren leaned a bit forward, eager to hear the response. Jean glanced sideways, wanting to know what it was just as much as the others did; Levi appeared to have been staring at the girl for hours now.

"What does it concern you to know?" came the calm response. The man glanced sideways at the cadets, eyes indifferent. His tone was neither angry nor venomous; it was a simple question.

"We're just curious," Sasha replied quickly, wanting to avoid upsetting her superior. "I mean, it's not every day that the Captain has eyes for someone… we're sorry if we're intruding!"

"Listen closely. I'm not going to repeat myself," came the quiet response. The cadets leaned in, eyes sparkling and expressions curious; even Mikasa looked as though she were eager to hear. Jean's mind was racing. _Something important, I imagine._

"That girl's been watching us for the entire time we've been here," Levi explained in a low voice. "She's too quiet. Something isn't right." His words were self-explanatory; Jean felt a prickle of guilt for not having seen it before. _He's not love struck, he's suspicious. While we've been over here with our heads stuck up our asses, he's been keeping watch. I didn't think he cared about us, but I guess he does._

Silence grew after Levi explained himself. Some of the cadets glanced at their laps, while others settled back against the log, thinking. Jean found himself glancing once again at the brilliant sky; the stars reminded him of his mother, a thought he outwardly pushed away but secretly enjoyed. Her calming face always soothed his anxieties; thinking of her relaxed him momentarily.

Suddenly, her terrified face flashed before his eyes; her worry that he'd not come home from the last expedition, her fear that she'd lost the one person she had left, her sadness and disdain that her precious child was likely dead; it was enough to anger Jean. His teeth gritted, and he snapped back to reality, glancing at the others with blazing eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he hissed, keeping his voice low so that the girl wouldn't hear. "Start thinking of ways to get out of these ropes!"

"Why should we?" Eren growled back. His green eyes showed mixed feelings of disdain and frustration. "Even if we get the ropes off, we're surrounded by traffickers. We won't make it."

"Wow," Ymir smirked. "The suicidal bastard's finally using whatever brain he has. Good for him."

Jean scowled. "We can sneak away when they're not looking," he muttered. "If we have a distraction, we might be able to get away unharmed-"

The trafficker girl stood, grabbing a small blade from her coat pocket. Jean felt a shudder of horror pass through his spine as she began to approach. _Shit, she heard me, she's going to kill us before we can do anything…_ But she didn't; instead, she shakily planted the knife into one of Levi's hands before backing away quickly. Levi stared at her for a few seconds before fumbling for a grip on the knife; once it was established, he began to saw into his rope bindings. Jean watched this with confusion; why was the girl helping them? _What the hell?_

The girl returned to her log and reached into one of the supply boxes, pulling out a rifle and loading it. Without a single word, she marched towards the wagons, her speed slowly picking up to a jog, then a run. Jean watched her as she rapped on the side of the frontmost wagon with the rifle, her voice shrill as she screamed something.

"What in the hell-?" Connie breathed, eyes wide. Mikasa glanced warily at Eren, who was staring at the trafficker, baffled; Krista whispered something to Ymir, who shook her head; Sasha's eyes narrowed, and Jean watched the trafficker, clearly perplexed. Levi continued to saw at the thick bindings, expression indifferent as he, too, stared.

Several traffickers clambered out of the large wagon, and the girl gestured wildly towards the woods. Their voices were unintelligible, but Jean picked up intense worry as they spoke among themselves for a few moments. Finally, they began to trudge towards the cadets, stopping by the supply box to grab rifles before carrying on towards the woods. The girl led the way, rifle raised expertly and ready to fire.

 _A distraction,_ Jean realized, heart fluttering a bit. _She's giving us a chance to get out of here._ He didn't find the chance to further ponder it as Levi finally sliced through his ropes. The triumphant snap was loud, and the cadets froze, expecting someone to come running towards them, but nobody did. The figures of the traffickers were disappearing into the forest; as soon as they melted into the shadows, Levi leaped away from the log, swiveling on his heels and stabbing through the ropes binding the cadets to the log. There was no need to speak; those freed first kept watch while Levi put the knife to use, watching for any signs of their captors.

Once they were all free, they began to run, legs pumping as they made their tricky escape. The snow became their enemy, slowing them immensely as they waded through the knee-deep sea of white; Jean's frustration pushed him to the front of the group, and the look of his mother's terrified face kept him going long after he was exhausted. He trudged through the snow like an ox, paving the way for the others, who followed blindly after him. Clouds were beginning to peak over the distant treetops; the forest seemed miles away, but the sudden shouting of the traffickers and the ringing of gunshots made their progress soar to previously unknown heights.

"We don't have our gear," Connie panted as they reached the towering spruce forest. "We can't do anything, and with tracks like that, we're done for!"

"Then climb," Levi gruffly replied, disappearing under the base of a large tree. Rustling in the needles alerted Jean to the man's location, and sure enough, he reappeared seconds later, clinging to the high branches of the black tree. "Ignore the needles and you'll be fine. The branches will hold. We need to leave, so get going."

Snow crunched beneath boots behind the group, motivating them to leap up the trees like birds. Mikasa and Krista shared a tree, while Connie, Sasha, and Ymir scampered up one like large cats. Jean ducked under the branches of the nearest spruce, hands clawing at the flaky branches as he pulled himself up. Levi had been right; needles stung his face and hands, ripping at his clothing and scratching at his eyes, but the urgency of hiding forced him to continue. The shadows protected the cadets from sight; had they done this during daylight, they would have been easy bait, but as luck would have it, the crescent moon still shone high in the sky. Jean finally came to rest where the branches began to thin, his face and hands bleeding from the risky climb. Exhaustion weighed heavily on his shoulders; he forced himself to hold his breath as the traffickers from before waddled into sight, rifles slung over their shoulders as they followed the path. The slightest movement would be suicide; Jean remained as still as a rock, his heart pounding in his chest.

The traffickers glanced into the treetops for a moment before turning their backs and stepping back towards their camp. Relief flooded through Jean; they weren't going to be shot tonight. He dared to exhale, but his breath caught in his throat as he noticed something glittering in the shadows under one of the trees.

Eren shifted his head, and the twinkling vanished from his eyes, but Jean knew that the brief instant where they caught the moonlight had been enough. The traffickers stopped in their tracks, swiveling towards the brown-haired boy and raising their rifles. Jean had a choice to make: watch or act. He didn't like Eren, but he didn't feel as though the kid deserved death, let alone by a stupid trafficker.

If Eren was going to die, it was going to be because he fulfilled his purpose. The boy's importance was not lost on Jean, and he knew that he had to do something. _For the sake of humanity._

Jean pushed away from his tree, leaping towards the enemies with outstretched arms. His hands connected with the middle man's rifle, and he grasped the firearm, taking it with him as he rolled into the snow, the man screaming in pain as his finger cracked against the trigger. The rifle fired, and a stinging sensation filled the boy's chest; stars swirled in his head, and he coughed, blood splattering from his mouth and onto the disturbed snow. The trees exploded with movement; Mikasa tackled one of the traffickers to the ground, Ymir grabbed one and began using him as a punching bag, Levi slashed his knife in defense as a man slammed the butt of his rifle into the captain's shoulder, and Sasha began to run towards Jean, her brown eyes glittering with worry.

"Jean!" she screamed, but her voice was rapidly fading, as though she were running away from him instead of towards him. His eyes blurred, his breathing slowing; Sasha's cries vanished, the world grew dark, and the stinging in Jean's chest faded. His mother's worried eyes stared at him for a brief second, tears glittering in them, before the soldier took his last breath.

…..

"Jean, please, wake up," Sasha whispered, pressing her hands against the wound in an attempt to staunch the blood flow. The boy's breathing had long since stopped; his slanted eyes were dull, staring into nothingness like twin pools of amber reflecting a moonless night. Tears spilled from the girl's eyes as she continued to beg that he come back, that he open his eyes and be fine, that they laugh about it later over a cup of black tea back in the mess hall in Trost. It was only when Krista lay a gentle hand on her shoulder did she give up.

"I tried," she whispered, shaking and staring at the boy's body. "I tried so hard… I saw him die… I... could have helped him!"

"Stop it!" Eren exploded, eyes wild with rage. "What, you're just gonna give up on him? After all he did for us!? Cowards!" Tears were streaming down his face, his teeth clamped together in a terrifying growl. "I'm not standing around and letting him die. I'm not a coward!"

Sasha was at a loss of words. Fresh tears pooled in her eyes as Eren kneeled beside the body, slamming his fist on the boy's heart and forcing breath down his lifeless throat. They were all staring at his desperate attempts; they knew it was fruitless, but they didn't have the hearts to say it out loud. Even Levi remained silent, watching with a vague sense of familiarity. Gradually, Eren's efforts began to slow, and he finally slumped back on his knees, head bowed and eyelids heavy.

"Eren," Mikasa finally said, voice gentle and soothing. "It's over. He's gone." At these words, the brown-haired cadet stood, dragging his feet towards his friend, his normally blazing eyes now dull.

"Awfully sad for someone who tried to kill him on multiple occasions," Ymir muttered, golden eyes heavy and glaring. "Upset because it wasn't you who got to finish him off?"

Eren's shoulders sagged. He didn't have the energy for this. "I never wanted him to die. We disagreed on stuff… but… this isn't what I wanted!"

"Joining the Survey Corps is the same as signing up for a death sentence," Connie said, also eyeing the body with heavy eyes. "We should have known something like this would happen."

A wave of silence settled over them as they mourned the loss of their friend, but it was soon interrupted. "We need to move," Levi quietly stated, standing away from the others and not looking at Jean's body. "Quickly. We have to burn the body."

Fresh tears streamed down Sasha's cheeks. "Not here. Please, not here. It's not right."

"Sasha, we don't have a choice," Ymir grunted. "If you wanna stick around and get tied up again, feel free. The rest of us are going to avoid ending up like Horseface."

"I'll do it," Eren muttered. "I'll burn his body."

"His is not the only body we're going to burn," Levi said. "We need to erase all evidence of our being here. Covering our tracks is the only way to keep them from following us."

"Another statistic, then," Connie muttered, eyes downcast. "Great. Just what we needed."

"Stop talking and start building," Levi ordered, turning and searching the red and white ground for flammables. "We have to be out of here by sunrise. If you want to make it home in one piece, I suggest you start looking for anything that'll burn."

 _And smoke,_ he added silently as he pushed aside piles of snow, digging towards the trunks of the spruces. _Smoke always makes decent bait. This is for you, Jean. Your death might actually mean something, if we can pull this off._ The compliance of his comrades nonetheless unnerved him; had Jean been there, there would have been more questions, more explanations, and less blind faith. It was a feeling that Levi was sure he'd get used to, but only in due time.

Levi didn't like objectifying people, but at the moment, he had to. The bodies would produce enough smoke to rise above the treeline if all of them burned in one spot; that would give the traffickers a place to start. _It's cold, and who doesn't like a nice, warm fire when it's cold? But it'll be their friends that are burning. Better than finding their friends frozen. If we can make the fire hot enough, they can roast their stolen meats over it, too, like the monsters they are._ His thoughts, however unpleasant, were taking his mind off of his freezing fingers. Internalized anger and a sense that he'd failed yet another person motivated him to keep digging, to keep searching for tinder, to stick with it to the end; he owed that much to the remaining cadets. And while he kept a straight face through all of it, he was hurting. Badly. Jean had been his responsibility; hell, they all were. Every time Levi tried to keep someone from dying, it always happened anyway. At least, that's what it seemed like. And it was hell. A living, breathing nightmare that he couldn't escape.

His fingertips brushed against the hard wood of the tree trunk. It was dry; _must have been protected by the needles,_ Levi thought, using his new knife to pry off the bark. He collected it in a neat pile, making sure they were in a dry patch. The last thing they needed was damp wood. When the bark was stripped from the tree, he began to cut out thick chunks of wood; it was soft, and easy to slice into, making collection a small task. When he'd built a large enough pile of it, Levi stood, pocketing the knife and stretching his back before gathering an armload and heading towards the site of the battle.

To his surprise, the cadets already had a small fire going, which they were using to warm their hands. Levi watched them warm themselves with silence. He understood they must have been cold; their friend had just died, it was at least -30 C, and they'd probably been trudging through snow moreso than Levi had in their desperate attempts at finding dry wood. It made sense that they'd stop to warm themselves; but while their bodies were heating up, the senior soldier knew that all they would feel would be a cold emptiness. He was used to the feeling, but that didn't mean he liked it any more than they did.

 _Haven't they learned_ anything _about working with me? I'll put the fear of Maria herself in their asses if they don't start doing something worthwhile. Can't they see that they're going to feel cold no matter what they do?_ He quickly made his presence known, clearing his throat and fixing his glare on the teenagers, who immediately froze, fear drenching their faces.

"Oh, sorry, was I interrupting something?" Levi asked sarcastically, approaching with his armful of wood. "You know better than this. Get to work."

They scampered away from the fire in different directions, all uttering some form of 'yes, sir'. Levi watched them leave before getting to work. He started first with building up the fire; feeding it and making it grow would take up far less time, which they seemed to be running out of. The sky was beginning to pale; the sun would rise soon. The cadets began to re-emerge from the trees, each carrying a few pieces of wood or bark; Sasha had found Levi's stack and was carrying an armload, Connie following right behind her with the remaining scraps.

"Add it to the fire," Levi instructed, standing straight with his shoulders up. He looked intimidating; the cadets did as told without question, with even Ymir keeping silent. By the time the fire was large enough to burn bodies on, the shadows were beginning to shift; they had very little time left. Levi glanced towards the bodies, 4 in total including Jean's, before returning his gaze to his temporary squad.

"Start piling them on," he ordered. "Two at a time. Make absolutely sure that they catch-"

He was interrupted by a low growling. Fear crept up his spine, and he slowly swiveled on his heels, hand reaching towards the knife in his pocket. He knew that sound. He'd run into it on many an expedition, mostly on overnight trips into Titan territory, and mostly on nights when not all of the soldiers made it into camp alive. _They say that once a dog tastes human flesh, it develops a taste for it,_ he thought to himself as the beasts slowly began to creep from the shadows. They were HUGE; Levi had never in his life seen such large dogs. They came up to at least waist level, and their faces were long, fur longer. More growls followed it, with more figures appearing; white foam bubbled at their jaws, their lips curled into deadly snarls. Levi could easily count their ribs- they were starving.

And they'd get what they wanted. There were six dogs in all; three peeled away towards the bodies, while the other three began to circle the cadets, their tails held low and their ears pulled back. They slunk fluidly through the shadows, their breaths visible in the early morning air. Fear was evident; Krista grasped tightly to Ymir's sleeve, Sasha began to shake slightly, and Eren instinctively moved closer to Mikasa, presumably for protection. Levi watched the dogs complete their circle; they did not attack, nor did they leave. They were standing guard as the other three dogs began to help themselves to the bodies. One of them began to tear into Jean's face, while another chewed into his stomach, spilling his insides out for the other to lick off of the dark snow.

Every cell in Levi's body was telling him to beat the bastards to Hell and back, but he didn't dare move. If he did, he'd be leaving his cadets, and he wasn't willing to do that again. Nobody else was going to die because of his carelessness. The fire crackled behind him, warming his back as the sun began to appear over the treeline; they'd run out of time. The traffickers would be waking up soon, and they grossly outnumbered the cadets.

"We're doomed," Ymir stated matter-of-factly, watching the dogs as they devoured Jean. "It was nice knowing you, Krista. Not so much the rest of you."

"Don't move," Levi ordered quietly. "Move and you die."

Levi had been right about one thing- the smoke was perfect for attracting unwanted attention. Early-morning shouts echoed through the forest from the trafficker camp, and the crunching of footsteps through snow began to sound louder. The dogs froze, ears perked, intently listening before continuing with their meal. _They outnumber whoever's coming,_ Levi realized. _Which means we have a chance of getting out of here alive._

"Dogs!" The exclamation rang through the forest, and several birds flew from their perches in the high branches of the pines. Three large men rounded the corner, coming upon the clearing with rifles at the ready. "I knew it! See, Simon, I was right, wasn't I-"

They froze as they laid eyes on the dogs, the three standing guard and the three chewing through their meal. One of the traffickers raised his rifle, aiming, but his buddy stopped him, lowering the barrel with a tentative hand. They exchanged a look and a nod, and they turned tail, leaving their other friend still standing in the line of fire.

One of the guard dogs charged, its paws slapping against the ice and snow as it barreled towards the trafficker. The man was no match for it; it leaped onto his back, pinning him to the ground and tearing into his spine. Flesh, cloth, and blood flew as it furiously dug through the man's back; his screams of terror continued long after he was dead, echoing through the trees like lost souls. Nobody dared move in fear of facing the same watched in disgust as the dog ripped through the carcass; it was revolting.

"Captain," Sasha gulped, "please give me your knife."

Levi was too busy pondering over the strange dogs to pay attention to the girl's words; these canines were showing intelligence and cooperation, two traits uncommon in normal dogs. And why the hell were they so _big?_ His response was absent-minded. "No."

"But I know what to do."

Once again, he gave a simple response. "No." _They're eating in turns, but why? Whatever the reason, it's clear that these things aren't normal dogs. At all. Which means we're in potential danger._

Sasha was on edge. She was shaking, forcing her breath to be low and even; her eyes stared animalistically at the dogs, and she reached for the captain's hand, grabbing the knife roughly out of his hand by the blade. Surprised, he reached towards her, trying to grab her, but she was already gone, taking off through the trees with the knife clutched between her fingers. She leaped gracefully over the dead trafficker, not letting the obstacle alter her speed in the slightest. The dogs guarding the group began to chase after her, their tongues lolling from their mouths; one of them paused, glancing between the remaining cadets and the bodies, before taking off after its packmates.

 _You're asking for death, the lot of you._ Dread filled his stomach as he stared at the girl's footprints in the snow, his heartrate speeding up."Everyone, listen closely," he stated, panicking internally. _Two of my cadets in two days? No. No more deaths._ "None of you are to leave my sight. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," came the unanimous response. Levi turned back towards the remaining dogs; they had finished with Jean and were moving on to the next body, their bloodstained muzzles dripping as they licked their maws. If they were going to get out alive, they were going to need a plan. The three that had chased Sasha were nowhere in sight; all Levi could do was assume the worst. He looked between the faces of the teenagers, reading their expressions; Eren and Mikasa were watching as though they had been through it before, while Krista and Connie were dazed with fear. Ymir was simply wary; Levi resented her lack of care for the situation. _Get off your high horse, you're just as invulnerable as the rest of us._

"They're busy eating the bodies," Levi began quietly, turning his gaze back towards the feasting monsters. "They won't know it if we leave quietly. Dogs can't climb trees, so head for the highest branches. And whatever you do, don't make sacrifices. Leave that to me."

They nodded in compliance, and Eren began to back away, boot crunching through the snow slowly as he took great care in placing his step. The dogs froze, ears swiveled towards the noise, and began to growl, hackles raising. When the boy took another step backwards, they turned, their heads facing the group of cadets, growls fading into blank faces. They were clearly capable of far more damage than regular dogs, and seemed to have hairpin triggers. Another step was enough to make one of them step forward, its ears raised, tail low; one more step, and it began to circle, heading behind the circle of cadets without so much as a tiny indication as to what it was doing. It stopped, staring, and Levi grabbed Eren's arm, dragging him back to safety. Running away clearly wasn't going to work.

"So we wait for them to finish their meal and then let them dig into us like dessert?" Connie sounded defeated, eyes locked on Jean's tattered remains. "Great plan, guys."

"Wait," Krista said softly. "It's only three dogs, Captain Levi, you can take them, right? Like Sasha did? Just run into the forest and lose them up a tree?" Her glittering eyes were looking at Levi hopefully. For a split second, he was certain her voice deepened, and his first assumption was that she may be coming down with something; he felt disgusted, but shook it off, focusing on the girl's suggestion.

"I'm not risking my life on that. It won't end well-"

"But you have to try!" the small girl exclaimed, tears brushing her lower eyelids. "We're counting on you, sir! You're the only one capable of… of saving our lives!"

"No, Krista."

"But sir-"

"My answer is final."

The entire group of cadets were tuned into the conversation, watching the two intently as they spoke. They'd taken their eyes off of the dogs; why bother? They were walking corpses anyway. The end certainly looked near as Levi refused to take part in Krista's plan; it showed on their faces. Eren glanced towards the snowy ground, frowning, and Connie's face fell, his shoulders going limp. Krista stared at Levi as though he'd grown three heads before turning away, retreating to Ymir, presumably for comfort. Mikasa stared bitterly at her feet, and Ymir scowled in Levi's direction, but the soldier knew that they'd thank him later. If they lived.

The sound of high-pitched yelping got their attention. They turned towards the bodies, and sure enough, the two dogs that had been eating and the guard dog were laying on their sides. Arrows were sticking from their foreheads, blood trickling onto the snow from the wounds. Levi glanced around, checking the forest for signs of movement, but found none; warily, he began to approach the corpses, and the cadets followed, sticking as closely to him as possible.

"Oh, she is _good_!" Connie exclaimed, grinning triumphantly. "Woo! Go, Sasha!"

"Sorry for taking your knife, sir." Levi turned, and there stood Sasha, her grey coat ripped along the edges and her face bleeding from surface scratches. She was holding the knife towards him; a bow was slung across her shoulder, a quiver with arrows right next to it. Levi accepted the knife.

"How in the hell-," Eren began.

"Took them to camp," the brunette beamed triumphantly. "I just had to outrun them long enough to get them into that trafficker camp. Jean's trail was really quick. He'll never know it, but he really did save our lives today; without that trail I would never have been able to lure the dogs away."

"And that's where you got the bow and arrows, too," Ymir grinned. "Potato Girl, you did it again! Exceeded my expectations!"

"Sasha, be careful next time," Mikasa warned. "Levi isn't always the best leader, but next time he tells you to stay close, you stay close, okay? And if you have a plan, talk it through with us first."

Sasha bowed her head, expression downcast. "Sorry, captain," she apologized. "I was a little crazy, I think."

"It's okay," Ymir piped up. "It's not like humanity's strongest soldier could have taken care of a couple of dogs, anyway. You did what you had to do."

"Ymir!" Krista exclaimed, and Eren stared at the freckled woman with disbelief; Connie and Sasha's eyes widened, while Mikasa glanced at the woman briefly.

"No," Levi replied simply. "Not with a pocket knife. I might have been able to defend you, but not attack them and expect to live."

"Sorry, sir, I needed the knife to cut my bow free," Sasha apologized. "They had this big net with all of our stuff in it. I saw it when we were tied up."

"Wait, is anyone else confused about why the dogs didn't attack us at first?" Connie asked, brow furrowing. "I mean, they went after the traffickers, right?"

"There are a lot of reasons," Sasha began to explain. "For one, we outnumbered them 7 to 6. And they thought they could snatch an easy meal because of the bodies, and they'd obviously done it before so they were used to the routine of scaring us. They took out the threat- the traffickers- and looked pretty freaked out by us. When they started chasing me, I knew they'd be overwhelmed when I got to the trafficker camp. It wasn't that hard to get them angry; all I had to do was throw sticks at them that I collected from the trees while I ran. They took out the entire camp when I got there."

"Just change your name to Armin already," Ymir replied.

"Alright," Levi said."Let's finish what we started." Thankfully, the fire was still blazing, and Levi could feel its heat as he walked away from it and towards the bodies. The air was still heated by the flames when he reached Jean's remains.

Not much was left. The face had been torn completely off, the ribs smashed and the limbs torn from their sockets. The majority of the boy's insides had been consumed; he looked like the rabbits that the supply wagons sometimes ran over, but after they'd been left for the vultures. Nothing but roadkill. _There has to be a better way to honor him than this. Just by making it this far he's proven himself as a worthy soldier._ Recalling earlier expeditions, the man kneeled beside his dead subordinate's body and pulled out the knife. He cut at the tattered, grey coat, focused on the souvenir: the Wings of Freedom, bloody and broken. He was well aware of the irony as he pocketed the badge and began scooping up bones to throw into the fire. _I've picked up more badges this year than in any years past. Might consider starting a collection._

…..

"It's nice to be back on something that can get me the hell away from here," Connie grinned, mounting his horse and taking care not to cut it with his newly repaired 3DMG. The dogs had wiped out the entire trafficker camp; the majority of the people there had been sleeping when Sasha came through, so they made for very easy targets. When Sasha took care of the ravenous beasts, they'd had the entire camp to themselves, and had naturally gone about repairing what was broken. It was different, though; there was an empty space in their hearts where they knew Jean should have been. Leaving him to burn in the forest had nearly killed Connie; he had been too distraught with grief to watch, and had been more than enthusiastic in trying to take his mind off of it. They could repair their gear, but they couldn't repair what had been taken from them.

"No kidding!" Sasha exclaimed in agreement, her eyes sparkling. "And now that we aren't being chased by traffickers, we can focus on getting back to the Walls. I haven't seen a Titan in days, so they must not be very active."

"But we haven't found Armin yet, and we still have to meet up with everybody else," Connie argued, eyes darkening. "And we never found out what happened to that trafficker girl. I'm kinda curious, what about you?"

"She's dead." Levi rode towards the two, his large horse snorting and slowing to a stop in front of them. "Are you coming or not? We're not far from where we're meeting Erwin. The rest of us are waiting on you."

"Sorry, sir!" Sasha apologized, quickly mounting her horse and following Levi towards the rest of the group. They'd stocked up on plenty of supplies; Eren, Mikasa, and Levi were carrying loads of bread and salted meat (the former two having orders not to go anywhere _near_ Sasha while they were riding), Krista and Ymir had weapons and ammunition in their saddlebags, and Sasha and Connie had taken it upon themselves to raid the traffickers' wardrobes. They were also in charge of Jean's unfaithful horse, who was carrying bags of clothes. If they needed to, they'd blend in nicely with their surroundings- the white clothing was the perfect camouflage. The traffickers may have been reckless, but they weren't stupid.

"What about the other horses?" Sasha asked as she caught up with the group. "Are they gonna be okay?"

"We set them free, they should be fine," Levi replied, almost in a soothing manner. "Let's get going. We're long overdue."

The sun was beginning to sink, its rays slowly turning orange and splashing the sky with reds and yellows. Levi led the way as they kicked their horses into full gallop, snow and dirt flying behind them as they rode towards their meeting place; Connie rode beside Sasha and Eren, golden eyes narrowed against the blast of cold wind against his face. _Thank Maria we're getting out of here. I never want to look at a dog again._ Images of Jean's shredded body shadowed his mind, and he shuddered a bit, pushing his horse to go a bit faster.

They rode in silence for hours, carrying the weight of Jean's demise on their chests. Even though he looked unaffected, Connie believed that even Levi was feeling bad; he'd seen the man cutting off Jean's badge and pocketing it, after all. The heavy cloud of sorrow didn't leave as the terrain changed from spruce forest to long, uninterrupted meadows. Rivers coursed through the landscape, the moon reflecting in their glistening surfaces; the sky was a canvas of stars, stretching endlessly into oblivion. Connie liked the stars. They reminded him of times of peace and tranquility, feelings that rarely came these days.

Levi began to slow unexpectedly, horse decelerating to a walk. Confused, Connie followed suit, as did the others. They'd stopped on the top of a hill, overlooking the horrifying scene below; the only sound was the trickling of a small waterfall that cascaded into the river below.

"What the hell," Connie hissed under his breath, and the feeling was mutual among the cadets. Bodies littered the ground in all directions, blood dark against the bright snow; dogs similar to the ones they'd dealt with earlier were pacing the ground, sniffing at bodies and gnawing through carcasses. The bodies wore the familiar grey coats of the Survey Corps; Jean's ripped face appeared fresh in Connie's mind, and he instinctively reached for the hilt to his blades, his eyes wide with horror.

"Sasha, take them out," Levi muttered, hands gripping the reins tightly. "Don't miss."

"Yes, sir," the brunette quickly replied. She accepted the rifle that Ymir handed her, loading it quickly from the ammo bag in her pocket and raising it. Connie stared with admiration as she took aim and fired; a dog dropped dead where it had been eating, snout sticking into the carcass disturbingly. Another shot, another dog; the girl continued to shoot the creatures, accepting ammunition as it was handed to her. _This is my best friend! She's so great,_ Connie thought as she finished off the last dog.

"The dogs didn't do this," Mikasa said, eying the bodies with a cold gaze. "The absence was too good to be true. This is the work of Titans."

"They took out _everyone,"_ Connie whispered, the admiration draining in an instant, to be replaced by fear. "The horses, the wagons- look in the river."

Trees lay strewn about the ground and in the water, smashed and curled and twisted into unrecognizable shapes like broken monsters. Horses lay smashed on the ground, stomped flat by oversized feet. The snow was crunched in several places, with Titan tracks leading towards and away from the massacre. Connie could see that inside of the tracks were footsteps; several people had left alive, possibly with horses. Something in the corner of his eye moved; he swiveled his head towards the object, staring in horror as one of the corpses appeared to be struggling to its feet.

"Hey, look at that," Connie said, pointing. His friends glanced in the direction of the lone soldier, curious. This person was dressed differently from the corpses around them; they wore trafficker clothing. They were trying to stand, but failing; with a groan of pain, they finally forced themselves to their feet, wobbling a bit and stretching out an arm for balance; their other hand was clenched tightly against their stomach, blood soaking through the fabric of their glove. Their face was hidden by a set of goggles, a mask, and their coat hood; Connie recognized it as the girl from the trafficker camp.

"It's her," Mikasa said, staring at the bloodstained girl. "Levi, you told us she was dead."

"I was trying to get us moving," he replied quietly, staring as much as the others. "I genuinely assumed she'd been caught in the fight with the dogs."

"We need to help her!" Connie exclaimed. "We owe it to her." Before anybody could respond, he kicked his horse into a gallop, jumping off of the hill and racing towards the struggling girl with a grin. She'd saved their lives; it was time for them to save hers. The others followed slowly, Levi leading the way at a canter. The girl glanced up at the soldiers, and the effort caused her to buckle to her knees once again, head bowing and hand gripping her stomach tightly.

"Hey!" Connie greeted, slowing his horse to a stop and dismounting. He knelt down, helping her to her feet carefully. She was shaking, maybe from shock; Connie knew what it was like to see a Titan for the first time, and a massacre would surely have put her into some sort of unstable state. She leaned on him heavily, draping an arm around his shoulder and letting him lead her towards the nearest tree, where he let her slump against the hard trunk.

"Sasha, she's bleeding!" he exclaimed as he caught site of a large gash running from her neck to her stomach. "Come patch her up, quick!"

The others were a bit more hesitant than Connie, but they nonetheless dismounted, Sasha grabbing her medical kit from her backpack and approaching with a determined gleam in her eyes. "Hold still," she told the girl, shoving Connie aside and beginning to unbutton the girl's coat. The girl retaliated, kicking out violently; Sasha dodged easily, forcing the girl's knees down before continuing. Connie saw the girl fall limp against the wagon, clearly exhausted.

"I won't hurt you," Sasha soothed, unbuttoning the last button before pulling the coat away, revealing a white button-up shirt. She tried to move the girl's hand away from her stomach, but it didn't budge; Connie realized that she was holding her insides, well, inside.

"I'm so sorry," Sasha whispered in horror, backing away. "I... I can't fix this, you lost too much blood!.."

"Step aside," Ymir suddenly said, grabbing Sasha by the shoulders and pulling her away from the dying trafficker. She grabbed the first aid kit and knelt beside the small girl, prying her hand away from her slit stomach.

"You're gonna owe me for this one," Ymir smirked, unclasping the girl's goggles and staring her in the eye. The trafficker had brilliant, large blue eyes, dark circles lining her lower eyelid and a tuft of blonde hair peeking from underneath her hood. Ymir pressed the back of her hand against the girl's forehead, feeling her temperature before pulling down her mask.

" _Holy shit!_ " Eren's exclamation rang through the air, piercing the thick silence with surprise. "Armin!"

The group was clearly surprised. Krista's eyes widened, and she let out a small gasp; Mikasa and Eren had tears forming in their eyes; Sasha was staring in shock, while Levi uncrossed his arms, standing a bit straighter. Connie couldn't believe what he was seeing. _Armin?! A trafficker?! That's impossible! He'd never join them!_ But here he was, propped against a slab of wood and having to be helped by the least caring cadet in the group. Panic, surprise, happiness, and anger all coursed through Connie at once; he was being ripped apart in different directions on an emotional level.

Armin didn't respond; his head began to loll forward, eyes closing. Ymir grabbed his chin, forcing his head up and rubbing her other hand along the top of his throat, forcing him to swallow before returning to his stomach wound. She opened the first aid kit, preparing a needle and thread and grabbing a small, metal bottle of alcohol. She left the needle to soak in the bottle as she ripped aside Armin's shirt, using a cloth to wipe away the fresh blood before grabbing the needle and getting to work.

"Armin," Eren said again, approaching quickly with Mikasa by his side. "Armin, what happened?!"

"Make him talk and I'll throw you into the river," Ymir said casually over her shoulder, continuing to stabilize the wound. "He needs to breath. Or maybe you want him dead. Don't know, don't care."

"Why do you care? You left him on the rooftops of Trost the last time you saw him vulnerable!" Connie exclaimed, rage brewing in his stomach. What right did Ymir have, treating them this way?!

"Leverage," came the simple reply. Connie was about to retaliate, but was interrupted.

"We need to get him out of here," Eren said with slight panic. "If we stay in the open, we'll end up like everybody else."

"Hey, shut up," Ymir snapped. Armin glared coldly at her before sliding his gaze towards Levi.

"Here." He weakly reached into his coat pocket, fumbling around and grabbing something. Connie took note of how cracked and hoarse the blonde's voice was- it was as though he'd not spoken in days. When he pulled an object out of his pocket, Connie noticed that it was a journal, the kind that the soldiers carried when they were instructed to do so. Sasha tried to take it, but he pulled his hand back, eyes flashing warily at her. "No. Levi."

 _Whatever he's been through, it's killing him,_ Connie thought. _He looks like one of those dogs._

Levi approached the blonde quickly, kneeling and accepting the journal. Armin's hand fell to the snow limply, and the boy sunk into unconsciousness, all tension fading from his small body. Levi glanced between the journal and the cadet before pocketing it and standing. "Connie, Sasha, tie him onto Jean's horse. Eren is right; we're not safe in the open. We also can't afford to stop. There were survivors of this fight, and we need to find them before the Titans do." When the captain finished speaking, Connie knelt beside the unconscious boy, lifting him; Eren pulled back, staring at his friend with great sadness.

"Hey, Levi," Ymir said, "You've been here before, haven't you?"

That wasn't expected. Connie stopped, glancing towards the soldier, wondering where Ymir had gotten that idea. _None of us have been here before, it's not our jurisdiction. Besides, what's it matter? As long as we get out of here._ But the others were looking at Levi as though he were hiding something, as though he were somehow lying. Connie didn't understand; why were they so bent up about this?

"What's it matter?" Levi replied, returning to his horse with the journal under his arm. "We have what we came for, now let's go."

Not wishing to argue, the cadets did as told; Connie fastened Armin to Jean's horse, wrapping the ropes around him and securing him tightly before returning to his own mount. Sasha rode beside him, her eyes thoughtful; Connie briefly wondered what she was thinking about as they carefully followed the Titan tracks, their unconscious friend in tow. The thoughts vanished, however, as he noticed something dark rising above the treetops. _Smoke._

"Captain, I think there's a campfire ahead," Eren said, eyes narrowing. "Maybe it's the soldiers."

"Stay close," Levi replied, turning his horse off of the path and into the wilderness. The cadets followed, Connie's eyes wide; why were they leaving the tracks? Didn't they need to find the survivors? He was confused, but faithful; _Levi's the oldest one here. He knows what to do._ They silently moved through the forest, their horses taking great care in trudging through the deep snow. Connie could hear voices speaking up ahead; when Levi raised a hand, the boy pulled his horse to a stop, as did the others. The voices were indistinguishable, but seemed fairly urgent. He could swear he heard Hange's voice, as well as Mike's; if that were the case, then why was Levi hesitating? _Let's go already! They'll be glad to hear about how we found Armin!_

The air grew still, quiet. A bird chirped in a distant tree; the wind rustled a branch or two, blowing campfire smoke in the group's direction. Connie peered through the trees, trying to make out any signs of soldiers, but all he could see was the fire, crackling and controlled. Images of Jean's burning body returned to his conscious, and he had to turn away, choosing instead to look at Sasha, watching her with large eyes.

It almost seemed too good to be true.

The feeling was not lost on the others. Fear and confusion crossed Sasha's eyes, and Eren moved his horse closer to Armin, hand reaching for a blade. A rustle in the branches alerted Connie to the presence of something. He glanced up, searching the shadowy branches for something, _anything,_ that might indicate what they were dealing with, but there was nothing. These trees were deciduous; the leafless branches should have given away whatever was up there, but they didn't. The enemy was hiding, using the shadows to its advantage.

Levi grabbed for his hilts, unsheathing the blades on his gear, staring up at the branches with a distinct glare. He reminded Connie of a mother hen protecting her chicks, but the amusing thought wasn't enough to saturate the dread. The crackling of the fire suddenly ceased with a hiss; the warm glow vanished, replacing the world with a cold darkness.

"You picked the wrong soldiers," a voice snarled from above Connie, and his head whipped around, searching the branches for the speaker; but the shadows concealed any and all people, and all he could see was the glinting reflection of the moon on steel blades in every corner. It looked as though the entire forest were gleaming with knives. They were surrounded.

"Hange," Levi greeted. "It's been awhile." Connie felt joy soar through his heart at that; Hange! The scientist! They'd made it back!

"You even got his voice right," Hange growled. "That's sick. A bunch of imposters like you should be thrown into a fire and burned. I'd be happy to do the honors. You shouldn't have ever left the Walls, and I'm going to take great pleasure in drilling that into your small brains."

Connie quickly looked at Levi, practically begging him to do something; the scientist's words scared him, and any relief he'd been feeling quickly vanished. The shadows were too long for them to see much of anything; in an open space, it would have been much easier, but in the middle of the forest, it was as though they had been shoved into a cellar. _Come on, Levi, tell them! We're not traffickers!_

"In about five seconds, you'll know it's me," Eren began, eyes glaring, but he was cut off sharply.

"Don't try lying. It didn't work for the others, and it won't work for you," the voice stated harshly, and Connie realized that Hange wasn't joking around. He didn't think he'd ever heard the scientist quite as terrifying as they were now. He glanced towards Levi and saw that the man was shaking his head at Eren, telling him not to engage. _What the hell?_

"There's been a misunderstanding," Levi said. "We aren't traffickers, Hange, we just came back from our mission."

"Hange, please," Sasha squeaked, eyes wide and terrified. "We don't want to fight you!"

"Shut up," another voice snapped. Connie had also heard that one. _I know his name! K.. Kage? Keege? Keiji! He_ _'s part of Hange's squad._ "We're not going to fight you, because we won't have to. You'll be dead."

"Is that really the best you can do?" Ymir taunted with a snort. "What a cheesy line."

Connie glanced at the girl, eyes wide. _We need to convince them we're us, not make them angry!_

"If they wanted us dead, they'd have done it already," she explained with slight annoyance. "Besides, they know it's us. They just don't realize it yet. Didn't you see how many people were dead back there? Those swords are just a bluff."

Connie glanced back towards the forest. He realized that the freckled girl was right; many of the swords seemed eerily still, as though hanging in the air; they were perfectly positioned under the moon, glinting, as though someone with an acute knowledge of where it'd be shining had placed them there. He hated to admit it, but Ymir was right. Something was holding them back from attacking.

Silence from the shadows. Connie briefly wondered if they were even still there before Hange spoke once again. "Took you guys long enough to figure it out. We've been waiting for you for days! What happened?" This time, the boy was able to pinpoint their location: directly above him, in the trees.

"We ran into trouble," Levi replied simply, sheathing his swords and hopping off of his horse. "I see you held up your side of the agreement." His casual approach gave Connie reason to believe that he'd known all along that Hange was testing them. _So why didn't he tell us? If he knew, we could have been through with this ages ago!_

"Yep! The fight was unexpected, and we lost almost our entire army, but I knew you'd come back, I just knew it." Hange came falling down from the branch above Connie, missing his head by an inch as they used their gear to maneuver in front of Levi. Their boots crunched against the snow as they landed, wires zipping neatly into their spots on the 3DMG. "We also learned a lot about the traffickers! Did you know they're traffickers? They're traffickers." They paused, looking Levi dead in the eye with a grin. "Was I right? Wasn't that little forest place just _perfect_ for watching Titan activity? It looked like the perfect place for someone to camp out. I was actually talking to Erwin earlier, he said he'd only let us camp there if we made a loop and found no Titans. I was really looking forward to it, but I guess it's fine that you got to instead. How was it? Were there any fish? I thought there might be fish, but I wasn't sure."

"Infested with traffickers," came the calm response. Connie found it impressive that Levi and Hange were able to talk to each other; Hange's excitement contrasted against Levi's calmness to a frightening extent.

The others were beginning to creep out of the shadows by now. Mike, Nifa, Keiji, Molbit, and the other member of Hange's squad that Connie didn't know showed their faces, with Molbit shadowing Hange as usual. They remained silent; Connie noticed that the commander, Reiner, and Bertolt were missing from the group. _Maybe they're off hunting._ He left it at that.

"What about Jean Kirschtein? He went with you guys, I think?"

No response. Connie's heart fell; he looked at his feet, still perched on his saddle, his eyes growing sad. Finally, Levi spoke. "Jean didn't make it."

"And Armin Arlert?"

"Right here," Eren replied. "He saved our lives, and we didn't even know it."

"Well, then let's catch up!" came the excited response. "I really wanna know how it turned out for you guys! You were gone so long I was _sure_ you'd died or something…"

"Can it wait?" Sasha asked, yawning. There were no signs she'd ever been scared. "I'm exhausted."

"You would be," Ymir snorted, but Krista agreed, as did Eren; she sighed, shaking her head.

"But we have so much to catch up on!" Hange sighed. "Fine, I'll restart the fire. Mike, you get some food ready. Nifa, Molbit, you two get them some sleeping bags. Prongs, Goggles, take down the blades." They changed from excited to commanding in under a second; Connie would never get used to it. The scientist grabbed Levi's horse's reins and began to pull, leading the horse- and, consequently, Levi, who followed closely on foot- towards the place where the fire had been. "I love a good story!"

The cadets, too exhausted to reply, returned to their saddles and followed; the survivors did as told, scampering off to complete their chores- which, in Mike's case, was a bit comical. Connie hadn't realized quite how tired he was; he'd been too hyped up on adrenaline to really bother taking note of it. They broke through the treeline, and Connie realized that it was a camp; makeshift shelters had been set up, sheltering supply boxes and other such objects, while sleeping bags surrounded a small campfire. Horses slept off to the side, tied to a particularly thick tree branch- they were covered in blood, but it clearly wasn't there's. A small stream trickled through the center of the clearing; clothing was shoved inside of a small water-filled wooden box beside the stream, soaking free of blood and gore. Hange quickly approached the fire, letting go of the reins of Levi's horse and kneeling. They began throwing fresh logs onto it before lighting a match and throwing it in; the fire roared to life, crackling. Warm light filled the clearing, and the world took on an orange glow. The heat from the fire should have warmed Connie, but it didn't; instead, he saw Jean as he'd been before his death, riding alongside Sasha with a serious expression.

Hange's squad was in worse condition than Levi's; their clothing was tattered, faces splashed with days-old blood; the frame on Hange's goggles was twisted, and a long crack stretched from the top to the bottom of one of the lenses. Keiji- the squad member Hange'd referred to as Prongs- was taking down the knives carefully, one of his arms twisted and broken, wrapped in a makeshift splint, while 'Goggles' was walking with a limp. Nifa had a long gash on her cheek, and Molbit was beaten to a pulp, having a black eye and several long, deep wounds coursing along his back and sides. He took a swig from a wooden flask and continued to help Nifa gather enough sleeping bags for the newcomers. Mike was the only one who seemed to be in stable condition; his only wound was a scratch running along his neck, as though he'd had a close encounter with a knife. They'd gotten out of their fight with severe repercussions; Connie almost felt sorry for them, but he knew they could take a beating and still go strong.

"We have food," Levi said, dismounting and pulling the bag of food off of his horse. He approached Mike, handing the taller male the bag; Mike took it without a word, turning and taking it into one of the supply shelters and securing it under a box. Eren and Mikasa followed suit, giving him their loads before returning loyally to Armin's side. Sasha followed the bags with her eyes, saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth. Connie laughed a bit, but it was an empty laugh; he was too distraught over the passing of his friend to feel anything warm.

"Oh my gosh!" Hange exclaimed, racing towards Jean's horse and grabbing Armin, ripping him from the ropes and carrying him towards the fire. "He's hurt! We have to fix him up so he can tell us about what happened to him!"

"Hange, wait!" Eren protested, taking a step towards them, but Mikasa was faster. She was at Hange's side in a second, shadowing them with narrowed eyes. It was clear she'd do whatever she had to in order to keep her friend safe, even if it meant prying him from Hange's hands.

"Nifa, fix him up," the scientist ordered. The girl nodded, taking Armin and retreating to one of the shelters, laying him down on one of the sleeping bags and beginning to undo his coat and shirt, intent on working on his obvious wound. Mikasa followed, shadowing Nifa now, hand positioned on her blade hilt in case she needed to use it. Eren followed, sitting beside Armin and grabbing his hand, holding it while the brown-haired girl got to work unwrapping the gash. Connie found himself staring; the trio's love for one another was fascinating to him.

"He gave me this," he heard Levi say, and he turned, tuning in to the conversation. The captain was talking with Hange quietly, showing them the journal. "Wouldn't let Sasha touch it when she tried to take it. I think there's something important in here."

"I'll take a look at it in the morning," Hange replied. "For now, though, you need to sleep." And with that, they grabbed Levi roughly, pulling him towards the sleeping bags by his cravat; he struggled against them with an angry hiss, but they were resilient, shoving him to his knees on top of one of the bags with a laugh. "Come on, Levi, you've been awake for days, I just know it! I'll make you sleep if I have to!"

"Fuck you," he hissed in response. Connie hadn't heard him use such colorful language before; it shocked and terrified him, and for a moment he swore the soldier would attack Hange, but he didn't. Instead, he slid off his boots and coat, retreating into the bag and glaring at the trees. Hange just laughed again, turning and walking away with a grin, leaving Levi to bitterly stare at the forest. Connie thought he looked like a kid that had been sent to bed early by his parents, and he couldn't help but laugh, shoving Jean to the back of his mind.

"Dinner," Mike announced, retreating from the fire with a large steel plate. Slices of meat sizzled on it, and the cadets gathered around him like hungry dogs. Connie joined his friends, stomach snarling; if he didn't eat soon, he'd resort to cannibalism, he just knew it. There were only enough slices of meat for each person; there would be no seconds, but that was okay by Connie's standards. He grabbed his portion hungrily, noting that Sasha had already finished hers, and began to chew on it, cherishing the precious food. Hange gave Levi his portion, and he silently sucked on it, still in the bag and still glaring at the forest; Eren finished his, but Mikasa chose to give hers to Armin, tearing off strips and forcefeeding him. Nifa had done a nice stitching job, Connie noticed; the blonde wasn't bleeding anymore, though his chest had been re-wrapped.

Once fed, they sat around the fire, relaying the story of their adventures; Hange's group had been attacked by a large group of Titans, and they'd made a surprising discovery: these Titans were capable of anger. They'd attacked the entire army, stomping and slamming and smashing deliberately, displaying acute understanding of what they were doing before leaving. Hange, Erwin, and Mike had been forced to flee, with only Hange's squad, Bertolt, and Reiner making it out alive. Erwin and the cadets had disappeared as they reached the treeline, and they'd not been seen since; the remaining survivors were attacked by traffickers as soon as they reached the trees, and they were captured, only to be rescued by the untimely arrival of 'some trafficker girl', who announced that she had come with news from 'the others' and that she had been the only survivor in a 'freak accident involving wolves'.

"She was buying time," Hange explained. "We could see her loading a rifle behind her back, but something went wrong with the mechanics and she had to fix it without looking at it, so she started telling an extravagant story about how there was a mix-up at the other camp, and that the traffickers had been stationed in wolf territory. Don't ask me what a wolf is, I have no idea. Anyways, she started explaining that the wolves had eaten the entire camp, and the traffickers called her a liar. She'd fixed the gun by that point, and she raised it, saying she didn't appreciate being called a liar, and she shot them all. Dead as nails. She untied us and then left, telling us that she'd help us find our friend."

"I didn't like her voice," Keiji spoke up, eyes narrowed as usual. "It was really high-pitched, more than the Lenz girl. Made my ears hurt."

"Anyway," Hange continued, "that was this morning. As soon as she left, we set up traps around our little camp here, mostly blades from our fallen comrades hanging from branches. I thought maybe if there were any survivors, they'd run right into us and we'd be able to interrogate them about these 'wolf' things, but I got a little carried away. The traffickers were carrying notebooks, all of them inscribed with death entries; the weirdest thing is that the entries were signed with our names. Mine, Levi's, even Keiji's. Apart from that, the notebooks were blank. I thought maybe they were using them to get away with their schemes; if someone stumbled on their bodies, they'd look similar enough to the soldiers to be mistaken as them, and they'd be able to remain undetected. But something doesn't add up about it. These guys have a set uniform: white clothes. So why would anyone think they were soldiers? Soldiers wear grey coats when out in the winter. And these guys had Military Police badges on them."

"The girl that saved you was actually Armin," Mikasa said from her spot next to the unconscious blonde, avoiding Hange's speculations- she didn't have an answer to them, but she did seem to have an explanation for something else. "He must have taken a horse here. He was a part of the trafficker group, after all; it'd make sense that he'd know where to find the next operation. The dogs took out that large group just this morning- he must have stuck around long enough to watch before coming here. We only left this evening."

"So he came here to kill them," Sasha murmured, eyes downcast. "The Armin I knew wouldn't do that."

"It's a good thing he did," Hange replied flatly. "If he hadn't shown up, we'd have had to kill more people, and that wouldn't have been fun."

"We found him in the middle of the meadows," Connie piped up. "Does that mean he was attacked? There were a bunch of dogs scavenging the bodies, maybe one of them got him… but that gash is a sword cut."

"Maybe he found the commander," Nifa suggested. "I don't think the commander knew about the traffickers when he vanished, and maybe seeing a potential enemy made him defend himself."

"Our best bet is to wait until Armin wakes up, then," Hange replied, standing and grabbing the box of water. They put the clothes out to dry, emptying the bloody water into the stream and refilling the box before returning to the campfire and extinguishing it. "For now, though, you all need sleep. You can tell me what happened in the morning. Night!" And with that, they turned, walking towards their own sleeping bag and sitting on it, grabbing a candle from their pocket and lighting it with a match before opening the journal and beginning to read it.

Connie slipped off his boots and coat, laying down in his own sleeping bag, grateful for the warmth it offered. Before long, he was sleeping, not daring to let himself dream in fear that Jean's face would haunt him.

It would be a peaceful night, for the first time in months.

…..

"I killed them, Mikasa."

The words were hushed, but Levi could hear them nonetheless; he'd been staring into the dark for Maria knows how long, and Armin's voice brought his attention away from the black trees. He honed in on the conversation, listening.

"It's okay," Mikasa soothed, and Levi swore he could hear Armin crying. "You're okay. You did what you had to do, and the fact that you're here with us is proof of that."

"But those were living, breathing people, Mikasa," Armin sobbed quietly. "With backstories and histories and lives and families-"

"They chose to lead dishonest lives," Mikasa replied, and Levi subtly turned over, watching. She was stroking his arm; he was curled into her arms, crying into her shoulder. "They should have expected repercussions to their actions. No bad act goes unpunished. You did what you had to do."

"And what about Jean?" Armin asked, stifling another sob and clenching Mikasa's shirt tightly in his hands. "I could have saved him, I could have gotten you guys out of there, but I didn't-"

"You didn't _need_ to," Mikasa soothed, continuing to stroke his hair. "You distracted them and Levi was able to cut us free. You saved us, Armin. Doesn't that count for something? Without doing what you did, we'd have been dead, or worse, sold into slavery. Jean may not have made it, but the rest of us did; we made it because of you."

The boy didn't respond, and Levi almost felt sympathetic towards him. _Someone with as big a heart as his would definitely not enjoy killing people, but everybody has to learn sometime that this world doesn't let you live in peace. Not unless you were born into it. Then you get to live lives of deceit and carelessness, like those Sina pigs. I know better than most that life isn't fair._ Before he knew it, he was sitting up, staring at Armin with soft eyes. _You're almost as innocent as Isabel was._ And that thought hurt worse than any of the others.

"They got what they deserved," he murmured gently. Armin looked at him with wide eyes, tears still streaming down his face; Mikasa shot the man a glare, but remained silent. Levi continued. "There are two kinds of men, Armin: humans and monsters. Those people you killed were monsters. They were taking innocent people from their homes and families and selling them as livestock to other monsters. I'm not saying that killing them was the right thing to do, but I'm not saying it was wrong, either. What you did, you did with reason. That's all that should matter."

Armin pulled away from Mikasa, expression softening. "Thank you," he said, looking between the two. "Both of you. I… I think I can try sleeping now." He wiped the tears from his cheeks, offering them a small smile before retreating to his sleeping bag. Mikasa sent another glare towards Levi before returning to her own bag; before long, both of the cadets were sound asleep.

 _Maria knows I try,_ he thought, head bowing _. But is it worth it, in the end? I've let down too many soldiers… collected too many badges, guarded too many bodies… and yet I never seem able to improve, or save anyone else, no matter how hard I try. But maybe trying isn't enough._ His expression quickly crumpled into a scowl. _I just need to keep them safe. That's all. They're my responsibility, and it's my job to keep any more of them from dying. Trying isn't enough, I have to ensure it. And I'll do everything humanly possible to protect them. Because, in truth… they're the only family I've ever had._


	6. Chapter 5- Traume (Dreams)

_They were everywhere. He couldn't believe what he was seeing- his comrades, his_ friends, _falling victim to the fanged Titans. Their claws slashed through flesh, painting the snow with crimson blood; Armin couldn't move, his legs wobbling slightly, head aching as he watched, powerless to intervene. The Titans were eating, snarling, growling, making noises that Armin thought impossible for them to make; they communicated with sounds, working in groups to slaughter the army. The boy crouched on the top of an overlooking hill, sheltering behind a tree with terrified eyes. He'd just finished saving the senior soldiers, and had gone searching for Erwin, Bertolt, and Reiner; the Titans, however, had shown great intelligence, chasing him into the forested hills surrounding the watery meadows before continuing with their meal._

 _"Freeze." The commanding voice forced Armin to glance around. A tall man was standing over him, sword clenched in hand and raised, threatening to pierce the boy without a moment's notice. Armin recognized that expression; it was Erwin, his face streaked with blood and a tourniquet wrapped around one of his injured arms. A spark of hope briefly lit up in the boy's heart;_ I found him! _His eyes sparkled as he listened to the man. "I know what you are. You're going to answer my questions."_

 _The hope drained, replaced with terror; something in the commander's voice certified his intentions._ He's going to filet me! He thinks I'm a trafficker, _Armin thought, eyes widening as he slowly stood, raising his hands and taking a step back._

 _"Sir," he began, "I can assure you, it's not what it looks like-"_

 _"It is exactly what it looks like," Erwin replied coldly. "I cannot force you to talk, but I can persuade you." With that, he raised the sword parallel to Armin's neck, holding his gaze with a dark expression._

 _"Commander, it's Armin," the boy quickly replied, pulling off his goggles and mask and staring Erwin in the eye. "Armin Arlert, the cadet that went missing. Corporal Levi took a group after me, and-"_

 _"Then talk to me, Arlert," the commander responded, not removing his blade. The look he was giving Armin was terrifying._ What? Why isn't he budging? He should be retreating, I told him it's me! He wouldn't kill his own cadet over this! _"Tell me what caused this."_

 _"I don't know," Armin said, expression fading into solemnity. "I arrived too recently. I only know that they're unlike normal Titans."_

 _"Not of the Titans," Erwin replied patiently, still not lowering his sword. "Of the traffickers."_

Shit, he's still going to kill me, _Armin realized._ He thinks I joined them legitimately. _"Sir, with all due respect, I think you may be mistaken," he began._

 _"I'm listening."_

 _"I didn't join them to join them, I joined them to report to you on their plans," he began, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his bloodstained leatherbound journal. He'd kept the one he picked up from the trafficker, and had been trying to decode the original message inside- many a night had been spent on it, and he held the book out to Erwin, blue eyes panicked. Maybe this would help._

 _"Arlert, your importance is not lost on me, but I've no choice in this matter," Erwin said, finally lowering the blade and stepping closer to Armin. The boy let out a sigh of relief, but Erwin's expression did not change. "I have to confine you."_

 _"I understand, sir," Armin replied, holding his hands out willingly to be handcuffed._ It doesn't hurt to be careful; if you still don't believe me, go ahead and take me for questioning. But don't kill me.

 _"Sheila! Look out!" a new voice shouted, and a blur of white flew from the trees, swords glinting as a girl landed in the snow, eyes narrowed and glaring. "We won't let him hurt you!"_

 _"You helped us too much, sweetie," a man laughed, appearing from behind Erwin with dual knives. "We won't let you be taken out by some stupid soldier._

What?! I was meticulous, I made sure nobody followed me! What the hell are traffickers doing here?! _The blonde began to back away, hand going towards the rifle slung across his back. A look of surprise flashed across Erwin's face; he whipped around, facing them, expression one of mixed fear and anger. The traffickers had taken off their goggles and masks, grins plastered to their faces; they looked victorious, like wolves stumbling upon a kill._ Oh my God, they're going to kill him!

 _"Give it up, Smith," another voice shouted, and another trafficker stepped into view, gun raised. "Commander of the Survey Corps. You'll go for a pretty penny on the market."_

 _Erwin's gaze flitted between the traffickers; Armin saw his hands squeezing against the sword hilts, eyes portraying deep vexation. Without a single word, he flipped around, pulling the triggers; his 3DMG hooks shot out, impaling the two traffickers near the treeline. The girl stared in horror, pupils dilated as the smugness vanished from her face; the commander returned the hooks to their rightful place, blood flinging across the snow as they zipped into the hookshots. The two men fell to the ground, folded in on themselves as the life died from their bodies. The girl began to back away, lips moving but silent; Armin realized she was trying to calm the commander, but it was a fleeting attempt. The man unsheathed a blade and raised his arm, slashing horizontially across her neck; blood streamed from the wound, staining her white clothing and Garrison badges as she slumped to her knees, falling to the side with a fresh splatter of blood. The snow soaked in it better than any cloth._

 _"You lied to me, Arlert," Erwin stated, turning to the boy and coldly raising his bloodsoaked blade. Armin began to back away, his worst fears nothing in comparison to Erwin's anger. "You are a danger to humanity. The likelihood of your returning to the enemy with more of our secrets is too great. Eliminating you will be the first step towards retaking the Walls."_

Begging is hopeless, _he thought, fear creeping through his bones in cold abundance._ He's not letting me go this time.

" _Retaking the Walls? Wasn-wasn't it just Wall Maria that fell?" Armin's voice was shaky, hoarse; he should have been running, should have been retreating, should have been getting the hell out of there, but he couldn't move; he was frozen, stiffer than an ice-covered rock. All he could do was ask questions and hope that he was given some sort of closure before his death. There was no way out of it now; Erwin was standing directly over him, sword raised to his neck in a straight line, as though the commander was going to simply spear him before returning to his remaining soldiers. The boy felt a sliver of regret course through his heart; he'd been looking for Erwin, and maybe would have found him under better circumstances had he not stopped to watch the Titan frenzy. Armin knew that Erwin's mental stance was different from the other senior soldiers; unlike the others, the commander didn't care about the individuals, but rather, humanity as a whole; the boy'd seen enough of his plans to know this. And while the man remained an enigma to him, he at least knew one thing: he would not be getting away from this alive._

 _"The Walls are not in our control," Erwin stated in response before thrusting forward with his sword. Pain pierced through Armin's chest as the man sliced downwards, cleanly gutting the boy; the tall man became a blur as the cadet fell to the snowy ground, crimson liquid staining his white clothing. The world was spinning; when the boy looked at the damage, he could see his stomach, his gallbladder, his colon, all of it soaked in blood, punctured, drowning. Thick darkness was swirling towards him; he clenched at the wound, holding it closed and waiting for the inevitable. Pain was coursing through his frail body; he was shaking, blood bubbling at his lips, dripping down his chin, shining in the pale moonlight as he fell to his side, the snow rising to greet him and cushioning his fall. Erwin's blue eyes flashed with triumph; Armin's focus returned briefly, long enough to see the commander turning away, aiming his hookshots and firing. He soared away from the cadet with a burst of gas, leaving him alone to die; silence filled the air, eerie and dark, louder than the screams of agony that were fighting to escape the boy's lips._

 _A faint voice began calling to him, snapping at him to get up, to move where his friends would see him; he recognized it, but couldn't pinpoint who it was. As far as he could tell, he was the only person here; the bodies were shadowed against the white ground, the snow dark and bloody. There was nobody else; nobody moved among the trees, and nobody stood in the shadows, but the voice was there, calling, demanding, piercing the shadows with angsty determination._

 _"Now, Armin." It was Jean, the same Jean that Armin had watched burn earlier that day. "Get up. They're coming."_

 _He didn't know how to respond. What was this? Had Jean not died? But of course he had, Armin had watched it happen. Cold dread weighed heavily on his heart as he turned his head slightly, looking up at the blurred image that stood over him._

 _"Move!" The brown-haired boy reached down, grabbing Armin by the shoulders and dragging him to his feet._ This is a weird hallucination, _the blonde thought groggily; he was too far gone, however, to think on it further. "Go! If you want help, then stop moping and go get it!"_

 _"But you're not real," Armin began, a fresh stream of blood flowing from his lips. "You're not here."_

 _"Who cares? I'm real enough to keep you alive. Get walking." The sharp-jawed cadet shoved Armin again, and the boy felt himself being forced forward, stumbling into the meadows with a hand pressed to his exposed gut._

 _"Cover your face," Jean ordered, grabbing the goggles and mask from the ground and wrapping Armin's head with them. "There are still traffickers. Don't let them know who you are. You'd rather die than let them win."_

 _"I… I can't… walk," Armin coughed. "It's.. not…"_

 _"Then try, damnit!" Jean exclaimed, grabbing Armin by the shoulders and pushing him at a high rate of speed down the hill. "Now! Before you lose your one chance of making it out alive!"_

 _It felt real enough as the small cadet stumbled through the snow, his head swirling as his legs buckled; he collapsed against the cold ground, hand outstretched and holding him away from the snow while the other held his insides in. The Titans were gone, and the wolves were beginning to creep out of the forest, but the boy didn't care. He couldn't. Jean was pestering him, screaming at him to get up, to get moving, to start running, but he couldn't; more blood dribbled from his laceration, and his arm gave out; he slumped onto his chest, choking out tears. The blood from his mouth was soaking into his mask; it felt as though he were drowning in the taste of it._

 _"We need to help her!" the voice pierced the silence, louder and sharper than Jean's; Armin didn't know if it was real or not, and he tried once again to stand, once again failing. "We owe it to her."_

 _Rapid hoofbeats alerted him to the approaching cadets, and he glanced in their direction, eyes wild as he watched the brown horses of the Survey Corps rapidly approaching._ No, no more, no more pestering, _he begged internally, vision obstructed by fresh tears._ Please. Jean.. Connie… all of you, go away…

 _But they didn't. Instead, they saved his life._

…..

"So," Levi said, sitting beside Armin and crossing his legs, holding a metal canteen of fresh black tea. "Nifa was successful in stitching your wound?"

"Yes," Armin replied. The morning sun was filtering through the trees, lighting the camp with a golden ambience; the winter sky was fading from pale to light blue, pink brushing clouds floating lazily above the trees. His tea was beginning to grow cold; he'd not touched it, instead letting it warm his hands in its canteen. Levi was trying; Armin knew that, beneath the stone cold exterior and gruff comments, he was doing his best- even if it meant overlooking the fact that Armin wouldn't be holding down food or drink until he was feeling better. He remained supportive, though, swirling the black liquid a bit, and staring at it with soft eyes. "Thank you, sir, for your hospitality."

"Shit happens," Levi replied. "Know how to deal with it when it does. We don't want you injured like this again. You would have died had we not saved your ass."

The blonde's expression hardened. _Interesting word choice._ "To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure what happened," he said, purposefully leaving out Erwin's role in the situation. "Something attacked me and I was sure I was going to die, but… I didn't. I guess things just worked in my favor."

Silence. Levi was looking at his canteen, hands wrapped around it tightly. He looked tense, as though Armin had said exactly the wrong thing. _It's about favors, isn't it? He's lost everyone._ _Nothing works in his favor when it comes to living or dying. I should have watched my words._

"Sorry, sir," the boy said, averting his gaze. "I didn't mean-"

"Don't worry about it," the black-haired soldier interrupted. "It's not worth your time." His voice was gentle, though his expression didn't offer much in terms of readability. It never did. "So, you're feeling better? That's surprisingly bright news in a time like this."

"...yeah," Armin replied. "I have a question, sir. What exactly happened while I was gone?"

 _Why were you looking for me in the first place? I'm just a soldier, nobody substantial. I should have been left for dead. Who knows how many of my comrades died in my name? That blood is on my hands. It's like you said, there are men and there are monsters. I fall into the latter category._

"Nothing of importance," Levi replied, bringing him away from his dark thoughts. "You were there for most of it, if not all of it."

"What?" Armin's eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'all of it'? I was-"

"You were there when the Titans chased us. You saved Jean."

Armin's heart beat rapidly in his chest. _You knew all along._

"Stop acting surprised," Levi grunted flatly, noticing the boy's expression. "I was expecting one of the cadets to say something. You were using your gear in a way you'd never used it before, but it was sloppy enough for me to tell who it was behind the mask."

"That's why you were staring at me," Armin muttered, glancing at his lap with shame. "I'm sorry, I should have done something faster-"

"If you were to try, you'd have been shot," came the response. "That would not have benefited anyone. You made a wise choice. I'm not one to dictate what is and isn't-"

"Levi, you're needed," Hange suddenly said, and they appeared in front of the two, hands full of what appeared to be pebbles. Armin realized that he'd been too busy listening to Levi to see that the others had woken up and were gathered around the fire. _I really am out of my right mind._ "Come on, we're figuring out where we should go next. Stop being lazy and start strategizing!"

"Hange, with all due respect-"

"Nope!" Hange grabbed Levi by the arm, dragging him unwillingly to his feet. "You don't get a choice, shorty! Come on!" And with that, they pulled him away, leaving Armin by himself. He could see that they were making a map of sorts out of rocks; he was itching to join, but knew that he'd be useless. _I'm not as smart as Hange. They'll take care of it._

The sun was rising steadily; the pink had vanished from the clouds, replaced by oranges and yellows. It was peaceful; a nice change, in Armin's opinion. The blonde glanced at his canteen, sighing. _The least I can do is show that I appreciate their help. I've been living alone for so many days that I forgot about common decency. Levi must think I don't care about their saving me. But that leads me to question of why the rest of the Regiment didn't return to Trost. Shouldn't they have gone home? Erwin wouldn't have kept them out for so long, I know he wouldn't, so why didn't he lead them back to safety? Nothing to do with me, since he tried to kill me, but…?_ It was confusing. Armin raised the canteen to his lips, taking a small sip of the cold tea inside; it was metallic in his mouth, and he coughed it out, quickly covering his mouth to hide it from Levi. A small amount of it still went down his throat, but it wasn't enough to hurt, so he swallowed quickly. _Maybe they ran into trouble,_ he thought as he stared at the tea-darkened spot on the snow. _Maybe they tried to gain entrance but were ejected. But that makes no sense, who would want to keep us out? Unless…_

It was beginning to make sense. The pieces were connecting rapidly as the boy struggled to his feet, clutching the canteen tightly as he slowly began to approach the soldiers surrounding the fire. _We're being worked against by more than just traffickers. The Military Police badges? The fact that they were a well-organized company? That they had special horses for it, something that only the rich can afford? And they were allowed out of the Walls, out of the Military Police jurisdiction; and the wary gazes from those in Utopia, and the sudden Titan attacks…. they're leading_ everyone _against us. We're not safe. We weren't safe the second we stepped through that gate. And the trafficker camp was a hoax. A con. Something to make the soldiers think they'd stumbled on the jackpot when in reality they'd stumbled on just one of the missions. There are more. That's why I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary as a trafficker. They had nothing to offer. It was just another Sunday for them! Which means everything is going according to whatever sick ideas the traffickers have come up with._

"Stop," Armin called, but the sudden wave of exhaustion that hit forced him to his knees, eyes growing heavy. "Please, I know what happened.." But he was falling, convulsing, the snow rising to greet him and offering a cold cushion on which to sleep. His lips moved, but no words came out; before he knew it, everything was dark, and a single thought burned in his mind before unconsciousness overcame him.

 _You're all in danger._

…..

Levi's eyes widened in horror. He _knew_ his tea tasted off, he knew it did, but he'd been too caught up trying to talk to Armin to take much notice. Everything was swirling; he broke free of Hange and whipped around, stomach burning as he saw Armin, crumpled into the snow like a wad of trash.

He looked down at his canteen and chucked it as far away as possible, the brown liquid spilling across the snow as it swirled out of sight. He sunk to his knees, the full effects of the mix piercing through his stomach; he could feel Hange grabbing for him with a panicked shout, could hear Keiji and Goggles as they rushed through the deep snow to his aid, could hear the sounds of their feet knocking over canteens as they forced their way towards him; Mike was yelling, his voice drowning out the sudden turmoil.

"The tea! Something was in the tea!"

Before he knew it, darkness was looming over him, thick and black as it came upon him in a wave; he was falling, perpetually tumbling into a void of nothingness, his last sight before unconsciousness being his comrades kneeling over him, worried, frightened, trying to fix a problem they knew nothing about. A second later, they were gone, replaced with nothing.

…..

Levi and Armin looked peaceful on their sleeping bags, eyes closed; it was as though they were simply napping in the early morning sun. Hange turned back to the leaves, eyes narrowed. _This isn't the time for them to be unconscious. There are bound to be more wolves or traffickers or Titans, maybe all three; and if there are, then we'll have to make a fast escape._ They were knelt beside the fire, looking through the tea leaves and trying to figure out what it was that caused their comrades to collapse. Nifa sat beside the two victims, checking for external injury that may have occurred during their falls; the others stood in various places, eyeing the brunettes warily as they worked towards finding what had caused this. _Just stay out of my way-_

Something in the pile of leaves caught Hange's eye; they held their thought, instead pulling one of the leaves away from the others, hands freezing as they saw what it was.

"What the hell!" Hange felt anger course through them; their hands clenched together tightly, eyes narrowing. "These aren't tea leaves, these are golden chain!"

"Golden chain?" Eren asked, carefully approaching the brunette. "What's that?"

"A species of tree native to this region," Hange replied. "It's lethal in large doses." _So Levi and Armin might not make it out alive. Fantastic._ "Whoever collected leaves for Levi either did this accidentally or with sinister intent." All excitement was gone. "And I happen to know that Connie did that early this morning." They jumped to their feet, swiveling on their heels, glare fixed on the clean-shaven boy. "So, Springer, why did you poison our friends?"

"I didn't mean-," Connie began, but Hange wasn't in the mood for excuses.

"What happened, then?" they asked, rounding on the boy and grabbing him by the ears, pulling him close to their face. "If you lie, you'll never hear another word of truth again. I'll make sure of it." Their voice was terrifyingly calm.

"Squad leader!" Molbit exclaimed, approaching Hange and tugging back on their grey coat. "Calm down, he didn't mean any of it-"

But he was shaken away. Hange glowered at Connie. "I'm giving you two seconds," they said.

"Accident!" Connie squeaked, golden eyes glazed with fear. "It was an accident! I found the leaves on the ground and thought they matched Levi's description!"

"Idiot," Hange grunted, letting go of Connie and turning their back to him. "Now we just have the journal to go off of."

"That may not be such a bad thing," Krista said, eyes sparkling. "He was protective over it, so maybe it has everything we need to know in it!"

"That's my girl, always the optimist," Ymir grinned. "But the journal's nothing in comparison with what he might know himself. Sorry, Krista."

Molbit uncapped his flask, pouring the contents into his mouth with messy gulps. Hange began to pace, hands clasped behind their back. _There's no cure for comas, but maybe if we keep monitoring their heart rates and feeding them and keeping them hydrated, they'll wake up. I won't give up on them yet._

"Nifa, keep me updated on their pulses," they ordered. The woman nodded, quickly putting her hands under their necks, eyes wide. Hange turned towards their assistant. "Molbit, instruct the cadets on poisonous plants indigenous to the north."

The man took another swig before gathering the cadets together. Hange turned back towards Levi and Armin, heart dropping. _Just when we thought we were safe, we get hit in the face with this. Isn't this fun. Okay, boys, let's see what you're capable of. Can you recover in time?_

…..

Levi's eyes shot open in a brilliant, beautiful meadow. It was spring; small brooks trickled through the flowing grass, pink wildflowers blooming. A mountain stood in the backdrop, the highest peaks shining with white snow; alpine forests dotted the rocks, offering scattered contrast.

"Corporal?" Armin's voice sounded in his head, and he turned. The blonde was sitting in a similar position on the lush ground, blue eyes wide and confused. "What's going on?"

Levi pushed himself to his feet, looking around and taking in the warm scenery. "The tea was spiked," he said. "I don't know what with, but.."

"Sir, I drank some of it," Armin said, also standing and walking towards the small soldier. "Just a little. I didn't want to be rude, I-"

"Where are we?"

"I think we're outside of Shiganshina, sir."

"Why?"

Sadness crossed Armin's face. "I think we were dumped here. I mean, if we were kept alive, and then started being such a burden that it stopped being worth the soldiers' time, they'd have reason to write us off as dead and leave us."

Levi didn't know how to respond to that. His eyes darkened, and he looked at the mountain, hair waving in the small spring breeze that began to blow. "Then why are there no Titans?"

"I don't know."

"This isn't good."

"Should we stay together until we figure out what's going on?"

"Not up for debate. Yes."

Armin moved closer to Levi. The man noticed that he was wearing his gear, and his stomach seemed fine; there was no sign of his ever having been injured. Not so much as a single scar on his neck. Levi glanced down and noticed that he also had his gear on, tied tightly to his hips as though they'd always been there. They were both wearing their normal uniforms; their mufflers, gloves, and coats were gone. Armin's theory wasn't adding up to the inconsistencies.

"Armin, don't make assumptions," Levi ordered, pulling his swords from his waists. "There's something very wrong here. Understood?"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Armin murmured in response, repeating Levi's actions and glancing behind them. "Sir, I don't see the Walls. Should we wait on returning until dark, when Titan activity is low?"

"Yes. Stay close," Levi replied, facing the mountain and beginning to walk in its direction. Something felt familiar about it, but he couldn't place a finger on it. It was giving off eerie vibes; _let's see what that's about._

…..

"No signs of activity," Nifa reported from her place next to Armin and Levi. Eren's heart dropped; that was _not_ comforting news.

"Thanks, Springer," Keiji muttered begrudgingly. "Fucked up the entire operation. How did it slip under Levi's radar? He's made enough tea in his lifetime to tell the difference, so what did you do?"

"I mixed them in with the rest of the tea leaves," Connie replied miserably. "I saw him taking them out and setting them aside afterwards, but he must not have gotten them all."

"Or someone ground them and threw them into the mix," Goggles suggested with a scowl. "Trying to help without helping at all."

Sasha visibly shrunk at this. "He left the tea out to dry and I thought he forgot some," she whispered. "They didn't look like any leaves I'd ever seen used for tea, but I tried to help anyway, as a thanks for keeping us safe."

Eren didn't know _what_ to think. The two had caused his friend and superior to be comatose, but they'd not known they were doing the wrong thing. _Maybe if they'd kept to themselves and let the corporal work on his own, this wouldn't have happened._ Still, he felt little to no resentment towards them. _It was an honest mistake. Hell, I'm practically the king of honest mistakes._

"Hey, Hange," Nifa suddenly said. "Come feel this." She was checking both Levi's and Armin's pulses, taking care not to touch the latter's healing wound. "There's a spike."

Hange was at her side immediately, checking the heartbeats for themselves. "There is," they muttered, voice grave. "Which means the golden chain is poisoning them." They pulled their hands away, sighing. "Keep me posted, Nifa."

Eren moved towards Mikasa, eyes downcast. "I feel kind of bad for them. They were trying to help."

"But they didn't," came the cold reply. "Actions have consequences. Sasha and Connie knew better than to mess with something they knew nothing about."

"About that, why wasn't golden chain mentioned in our training?" Eren asked, green eyes hardening. "Hange said it was lethal."

"Whatever the reason, Armin will get past it," Mikasa replied. At this, Eren felt his heart leap. _Who are we kidding? This is Armin we're talking about! He'll be fine._

"He's been through worse," Eren agreed, grinning. "It'll take a lot more to kill him than a stupid plant."

He knew in his heart that he was convincing himself more than Mikasa. _Armin'll get through this. He's_ Armin! _He just got gutted like a fish and was still up and kicking. There's no way this is going to so much as put a dent in his mood._

… _.._

"This is the entrance," Levi suddenly said, stopping. They'd been walking for only a few minutes, but the sky was already beginning to grow dark. They were stopped at a large boulder, nearly halfway up the forested mountain. Strangely, they'd not run into any wildlife, Titans included; a thick layer of snow covered the ground, cold and dark against the night sky, as though it had been there all along, despite the fact that moments before the only signs of coldness had been in the highest peaks of the mountain. "It leads into the Underground."

"Sir, I don't think going down there is a good idea," Armin said, fear flashing briefly across his face. "It's not really our jurisdiction-"

"I wouldn't enter if it killed me," Levi replied, raising his swords. "But something's pulling me there."

"Something's pulling me in every direction _away_ from there," Armin said. "I _really_ don't think-"

But Levi was already pushing the boulder to the side, revealing a narrow staircase made from moldy wood that lead into the dark depths. "Stay here, then."

"No," Armin denied, holding his blades up. "I'll come."

And so the two traversed the silent steps, taking a last look at the growing stars before disappearing into the murky dark. Armin was terrified; he'd heard plenty of rumors about this place, and if they were true, then he'd be finished off the second he stepped into the underground civilization. _As long as I stay close to Levi, I'll be fine._ But close was an understatement; he was practically clinging to the man.

Levi froze as they reached the bottom step, and Armin nearly crashed into him, staring in awe at the underground city; it was the oddest sight the boy'd ever come upon. Metal buildings lined the dark streets, tall lamps penetrating the thick darkness with warm candlelight. People strolled casually through the city, their faces frozen into disturbing smiles, some with market bags and others with pets; the air was thick and muggy, and Armin found that breathing was suddenly undesirable. Dogs barked, cats yowled, and people talked; it seemed like any other city, but different. It didn't take Armin long to realize that every person he saw was a trafficker.

They wore badges on their arms, no matter what they were wearing; some boasted the roses of the Garrison, while others bore the green unicorn of the Military Police. There were no Wings of Freedom, Armin noticed, but that didn't matter. What mattered is that he and Levi stood out like sore thumbs; they'd stumbled upon the _real_ trafficker camp. Thousands of people milled about, all talking, all smiling, lips unmoving. It was more people than Armin'd seen in his life, let alone in one place.

Levi grabbed his shirt quite suddenly, leaping off of the staircase and dragging him into a black alleyway. Armin stumbled after him, surprised; what was going on? He stayed silent as they slowed to a stop, Levi dropping him as suddenly as he'd grabbed him.

"This isn't what it looks like," a young voice exclaimed, and Armin turned, staring at the street. A young blonde with a matching brown cap and bowtie was holding a bleeding cat, his boots worn and his brilliant blue balloon pants torn. He was wearing a red smoker's jacket, as well as bright purple stockings; his hairstyle loosely matched Armin's. He spoke with an odd accent, as though raised in a different part of the Walls. The cadet could have sworn he wasn't there a second earlier. "I was just trying to help her, I didn't mean-"

"Shut up," a voice snapped, and two soldiers were there, rifles in hand. Strangely enough, they were smiling, as well; they'd also not been there before. They wore Garrison badges on their casual clothes. "You stole it, now give it back."

"No!" the boy pleaded. "Please, I just want to help her!" He was clutching the cat tightly to his chest, and Armin could see distinct tears on his cheeks, despite his constant smiling. "I _need_ to help her!"

"Give us the cat and get out of here," one of the soldiers said, stepping forward and raising his rifle at the boy's forehead. "Now."

 _What does it matter that he keeps the cat?_ Armin thought, confused. _I thought traffickers sold people, not pets._

"No, please," the boy pleaded. "She's hurt, please-"

He never finished his sentence. A shot rang through the city as the boy's brains were blown out; his body slumped to the ground, and the cat quickly leaped from his arms, careening into an alley and out of sight, fur spiked and back arched. Armin noticed immediately that there was no blood spilled. The traffickers continued to look for the cat, and Armin picked up on some of their conversation.

"That damn thing's gotten away too many times to count," one of them snorted. "I don't see what Jay wants with it. I mean, can't he just give it up? It's only a goddamned cat."

"Guess the boss really likes his pets," the other replied, and their voices faded as they walked out of earshot. Armin glanced at Levi, but the man was staring at them, eyes wide.

"This is the head of operations," Levi whispered, backing away. "Armin, we found it."

"Levi," a voice chuckled, and Armin glanced up. The rooftops were lined with traffickers, all with guns pointed towards the black-haired man and the blonde. The gruff voice was sickeningly sweet. "Found yourself a partner, finally. How nice."

Confusion and fear rang in Armin's head. Where had they come from? He'd not heard them approaching, nor had he seen them there when they ducked into the alley. "Levi, what's going on?" He looked between the corporal and the armed traffickers.

"That's right, Levi," the voice sneered. "What's going on? Why did you abandon us?"

Levi threw an arm out, holding back Armin with his sword. "We were just leaving, Zachariah."

"You know that isn't going to happen," 'Zachariah' chuckled. "I hear Jay's got a nice price on your head. A lifetime's supply of food and a ticket into the outside seems pretty nice to me. So why don't you just drop your swords and take a step forward, _humanity's strongest?_ "

"No," Levi replied simply. "I don't follow orders from hollow-brained beetles."

"Take that back," Zachariah hissed, jumping from the rooftop and landing in front of them. Armin found it strange that they made no noise- he'd expected at least a clap of boots against the cobblestone, but there was nothing. Stranger still was the wide smile plastered on the man's face. "Tell you what. You tell us how to get out, and we'll let your girlfriend go." He raised his rifle, aiming it at Armin; the boy noticed that he looked similar to Levi, with hooded eyes and black hair, the difference being that he had strong cheekbones. It was strange.

"No," Levi repeated. "Squealing pigs like yourself don't belong in the outside. It's much safer for you to stay down here."

"Fine, we'll ask your girl," Zachariah replied, pressing the trigger. A shot rang through the alley, and a blast of hot air soared past Armin's shoulder; he instinctively ducked out of the way, sidestepping with his swords raised; regret seared through him as he realized he'd caused Levi to be hit instead. The man's eyes were dilated, hands clenching his side; he'd turned, clearly intent on shoving Armin out of the way, but the result had been him being hit unnecessarily. Strangely enough, there was no blood, but the damage was clear; Levi began to fall, and Armin rushed forward, grabbing him under his arms and hauling him to his feet. _Shit, this is my fault, I did this, I moved out of the way and he got shot…_ He held Levi close, compensating for the lethal mistake by keeping him off of the filthy cobblestone.

"No," Levi growled, head lolling on his shoulders towards Zachariah. "You won't."

Armin knew what to do. Levi was heavy with his gear on, but he could handle heavy. He picked the grey-eyed man up, holding him in his arms and aiming his gear, firing the hooks. One of them pierced through Zachariah, impaling and killing him, hooking into the metal wall behind him while the other reached the rooftop. With a burst of gas, he soared through the air, using extra fuel and causing his disappearance behind a cloud of fumes. The traffickers couldn't get a clear shot, and before they knew it, Armin was gone, carrying a suddenly bleeding Levi away from the turmoil and towards the staircase. His feet pounded against the stone as he ran full-speed away from the traffickers, his eyes wild as he leaped onto the first step. He began to traverse the steps, heart pounding against his chest as the tunnel seemed to grow longer with each footfall. It was too much weight; the stairs began to splinter under his feet, several of them breaking behind him. The murky air suddenly lifted; brilliant blue skies sped towards him, and he reached the top of the staircase, leaping away from it. Levi fell from his arms, and he tumbled head over heels along the lush ground, uprooting clumps of mud and grass and finally coming to a halt. He had no time to lose; he flipped around, intent on pushing the boulder over the staircase, but it was gone, vanished without a trace. There were no signs of a staircase ever having been there. He stared, awe washing over him; what was this? And hadn't it just been night? He glanced up, the sky suddenly cloudy and dark; it was certainly strange.

"Armin," Levi mumbled from his place on the ground. "Don't fight them." His hand was clenching his wound tightly, blood slipping through his fingers; Armin knelt beside him, rolling him onto his back and ripping off his cravat. He pushed it into Levi's hand, who weakly pressed it against his side, grey eyes glazed and far-away. Any and all eccentricities of this place vanished from thought.

"I can't help you without supplies," the boy said, eyes wide as he pushed his hand against Levi's, helping to staunch the flow of blood by adding pressure. "Just hang in there, I'll help however I can…"

Levi's only response was to press his free hand against Armin's, eyes slowly meeting the cadet's as he added further pressure to the wound. "Don't," he began to repeat, but the light died from his eyes, and his hands fell limp, lips unmoving. Tears welled in Armin's eyes; he continued to press Levi's hand against the wound, heart dropping.

 _He's gone._

…..

"Hange, we have a spike." Nifa's voice was panicked. "It's Levi. His heart is beating too fast."

Hange was at his side in an instant, feeling his pulse. They reached into their pocket, pulling out a flask and splashing the contents on his face; his heart rate returned to normal, and Nifa breathed a sigh of relief. "Cold water?"

"Works every time," Hange replied.

"Hange, we found signs of wolves," Molbit said, walking into camp with Sasha, Connie, and Goggles in tow. "We should leave."

"Not without Armin," Eren suddenly said, stepping towards his unconscious friend.

"We have no choice," Molbit said, eyes widening. "If we stay here, we run into wolves on a massive scale."

"Then let's leave," Hange said, grabbing Levi and tossing him over their shoulder, doing the same with Armin. "We won't leave them. C'mon, pack up!"

The soldiers and cadets offered their hearts before packing the camp. Mike tied boxes and bags of supplies to the unused horses, Eren and Mikasa secured Armin and Levi to their horses, and Molbit, Nifa, Goggles, Sasha, Connie, Ymir, Krista, and Hange worked on erasing their tracks. They were finished by nightfall; the silence was heavy as Hange mounted, taking the lead away from the small clearing.

The forest was bright with moonlight, the bare branches gleaming up above. They rode in silence, watching the sparse shadows for wolves, Titans, or traffickers; nobody needed to talk. They all understood that they were now facing three enemies, all of which were out to kill them, and they were now down two soldiers. This was only getting harder.

Ymir's only concern was Krista. The small blonde was capable, she knew, but vulnerable; her size and shape would make it easy for traffickers to grab her, and her pretty face would sell on the markets for plenty of money. _Fake or not, she's priceless._ The freckled girl pulled her horse closer to the blonde, golden eyes narrowed. _If someone tries to touch her, they'll have to get through me. They won't like me when I'm angry._

"Ymir," Krista suddenly whispered, "do you think we'll make it out alive?"

"You will," Ymir replied. "Don't worry about it. I'll keep you safe."

"I can defend myself," Krista began, but Ymir interrupted her.

"Sure you can, but help doesn't hurt."

That shut up the small blonde. Ymir turned back towards the horses in front of her; Hange was picking up their pace, the soldiers kicking into canters to keep up. Hooves crashed through branches and snow as they began to gallop, the trees speeding by as they followed the scientist, none of them understanding why they were going at such a high rate of speed. The shadows melted into one another as the world blurred; it briefly occurred to Ymir that they were going far faster than they would under normal occasions.

"Squad leader, we're going too fast!" she heard Molbit exclaim. "We need to slow down, please! We're going to lose our cargo!"

That sentence in of itself was enough to tell Ymir exactly what Hange was doing- they were running. The brunette glanced over her shoulder, and sure enough, they were being chased; wolves were loping after them, but of course nobody heard them. The sound of the horses was too loud. The distance between the group and the canines was growing; they were easily outrunning the enemy, but at what cost? Levi and Armin were bouncing about on their horses' backs, their limp bodies beginning to slip to the sides, the ropes tightening them down offering no help. Nobody else seemed to be noticing, not even Krista, who was leading the cargo horses; they were too focused on Hange, too focused on the blurring shadows, too focused on things they shouldn't have been focusing on. _How is nobody noticing this? Hange, you're good, I'll give you that. Gradually picking up the pace instead of automatically kicking into top speed… nobody has a reason to suspect something. Right now you just look a bit too determined to get to our next stop. Smart._

She began to slow, pulling her horse up next to the ones carrying the two unconscious soldiers. _These two are toast if they keep falling._ Krista glanced at her briefly, suddenly catching sight of the wolves; her blue eyes widened, horror crossing her face as she kicked her horse, urging it to go faster.

"No," Ymir grunted, leaping onto her horse's saddle and balancing, an act that seemed nearly impossible considering the speeds they were reaching. Krista took the cue and slowed, watching, worry lacing the lines on her face. Ymir leaned over, hands latching onto Levi's horse's saddle; for a brief second, she was split between horses, with her feet on her own saddle and her hands clutching tightly to the other horse. With a grunt, she pushed away from her mount, swinging a leg over Levi and coming to rest on his stomach, shifting her weight a bit so that he wouldn't be crushed. The black horse snorted, tossing its head at the extra weight, but Ymir ignored it, instead fastening Levi tightly to the saddle, rewrapping the ropes so that they wouldn't come loose. For added stability, she reached down, tying the soldier's feet to his stirrups.

Next up, Armin. The girl swung her leg to the other side of Levi's horse, balancing with one foot in the stirrup; the horse stumbled a bit over a rock, and she was jarred onto Armin, face smacking against the boy's. She quickly righted herself, clutching the chestnut's mane and pulling herself onto its upper back.

"Ymir, what the hell are you _doing_?!" Connie exclaimed. She offered the boy a sneer.

"What you're too scared to do," she replied, grabbing Armin and pulling him onto the horse's back, tightening him to the saddle the same way she'd done Levi before standing. With a grin, she edged her way to the side, leaning and grabbing the horn of Levi's saddle before swinging between horses. Her own mount was racing faithfully alongside the black horse, its ears angled in her direction; she whistled to it, and it moved to the side, brushing against Levi's horse. That made everything easier; the freckled girl quickly hopped aboard, gathering her reins in her hands and kicking into a full gallop, catching up with Krista and slowing beside her.

Sasha, Connie, Eren, and Mikasa were staring at her, the former three with wide eyes; the girl simply smirked in their direction, waving. "Hi, nice to see you, too!"

They turned away, continuing to follow Hange. Ymir internally screamed with success. _They owe me big time. They'll be able to do what I need them to._

"Ymir, that was crazy," Krista said, eyes wide as they continued to follow the rest of the group. "You could have died!"

"Sure," Ymir replied, grinning. "But I didn't, and they're still alive, so things worked out." They fell into silence at that.

Before long, the wolves were out of sight; Ymir grinned. _Looks like we outran them, after all_. The horses were snorting, their legs pumping as they broke through the line of trees; they'd slowed down a considerable amount, unable to maintain such a high speed for such a long time. The moon cast a silver glow on the world; the Wall stood, proud and tall, shadows lining the cannons on its high tops. They'd returned to the Utopia district.

"We made it!" Krista exclaimed, tears in her eyes as they began to slow; Hange pulled their horse to a stop, and the others followed suit, lining their horses up and spreading out along the snowy hilltop. The naked trees stretched for miles behind them, their branches glittering with silver-splashed snow. "We're back!"

 _I don't think so._ "In time for breakfast, too," Ymir grinned, nudging Krista with her shoulder. "I can't wait to climb into a real bed for once, my back is killing me!" _We're not home. Not even close. Not with the way things have been going. Don't you worry, Krista. I'll keep you safe._ She found herself inadvertently moving closer to the girl; before she knew it, their stirrups were touching. _No matter what._

"Hear that, Sasha? Breakfast!" Connie grinned widely, sparkling eyes latched onto the shadowed Walls with fondness. The golden sun was painting the clouds and snow gold; Ymir would have found it peaceful had she not known that there would almost surely be trouble when they returned home. _We've been gone too long for it to be peaceful. This mission was a bust. And if it's not the people inside of the Walls that kill us, it'll be the wolves._ Something dawned on her, sending a shiver down her spine. _We didn't outrun them, they just stopped chasing us._

"Stay close," Hange ordered, kicking their horse to a trot and leading the way down the hill. Ymir sighed, following with the others. _They follow you blindly, Hange. It's foolish. They should start thinking for themselves instead of relying on the words of their superior. We're all kill fodder here; just because you're older doesn't mean you're any less vulnerable._

The horses were tossing their heads as they neared the gate. Ymir could make out Garrison soldiers, standing at their posts on the high reaches of the Wall; she noticed that they made no move for the gate. _Figures._

"Hey!" Hange called, waving. "Let us in!"

"No," came the surly response. "You shouldn't be alive."

"What the hell?" Eren muttered, eyes narrowing. "Hey, let us in! We have information for the king!"

"And we have information for _you_ ," the voice replied. Ymir couldn't pinpoint which soldier was talking; they were too far up. "You're not going to walk through this gate."

"Why?!" Eren's voice was furious. "Let us through! Now!"

"Eren, calm down," Hange snapped. "Guards, open the gate. This is the last time we ask."

"Let the girl through," they replied. "The blonde." One of them motioned their gun in Krista's direction. "She'll be a nice treat for Jay."

"Jay?" Hange sounded interested. "I've never heard that name."

"You don't need to know who Jay is," the Garrison soldier replied. "Give us the girl and scram."

"No," Mike suddenly said, standing on his horse's saddle and unsheathing his blades. "We asked, you refused, that's how it is. We will not do you favors."

"If you touch my Krista, I'll slice you up," Ymir threatened, following Mike's lead and balancing on her saddle for the second time that day, unsheathing her swords and glaring. "So either you let us all in or you let nobody in."

"Nobody enters," came the response. The shadowed figure raised its arm, and the sound of wheels against stone was heard as the soldiers aimed the cannons at the group. "Go ahead, try to scale the wall. You're a danger to humanity, and we won't have you walking around on the inside."

"Then why did you want Krista?" Hange asked, standing on their saddle and unsheathing their swords. "If not to sell her?"

"She'll keep Jay nice and happy so we can recover from our losses."

"What?!" Eren's anger was tangible. "She's one of our friends, you can't do that!"

"We can and we will," the voice replied. "She's your friend, not ours. To us, she's our ticket out of getting our asses whipped."

"You want to sell someone into slavery!?" Connie exclaimed, eyes darkening. "Just for your own personal protection!?"

"You monsters!" Nifa shouted, leaping onto her saddle. "Do you take us for fools? We won't give you anyone, no matter what! Not if you're planning on selling them like cattle!"

"If you don't, we'll blast you," the soldier replied, hand still raised. "We will!"

Ymir threw her arm out, shielding Krista with her sword. "I'll die before giving you my Krista," she hissed. "That's a promise."

Eren held his hand to his mouth, teeth gritted. "We've been through too much for this!"

Hange sheathed their blades and sat, beginning to back their horse away from the Wall, eyes deadly. "Leave it alone, we can't fight those cannons."

"Hell yes we can!" Eren shouted, opening his mouth to bite and sinking his teeth into his thumb. A single well-aimed cannon was fired as lightning struck from the sky; it blasted Eren to the ground, his horse exploding from the blast. The other horses reared, panicking, tossing Ymir, Mike, and Nifa to the snowy ground. The girl could see the boy laying on his side, face bleeding heavily, eyes liquified; whoever shot the cannon did so at the perfect time. They'd caught Eren before he could transform.

Mikasa leaped from her panicking horse's back with an angry shout, shooting her hooks into the Wall and racing into battle with a spurt of gas. It didn't go as expected; Ymir watched as one of the steel cables snapped, sending the cadet flying dangerously to one side. She smashed into the Wall with a shout of pain, hanging limply from the remaining cable, blood trickling from her forehead. She appeared to be unconscious. _That's what happens when you leap into battle in negative degree weather. The cables snap._

Ymir watched from the ground as Hange jumped atop their saddle, aiming their hooks and swinging into action. They maneuvered through the air like an angel, turning on their heel and zipping past Mikasa, grabbing her as they flew. The cannons began to fire at them, but they were quick; the brown-haired scientist aimed a hook at the ground, the steel cable pulling them forward as they zipped onto their horse, Mikasa in tow.

"On your horses!" they ordered, holding the girl in one hand and steering their horse with the other as they kicked their mount into a full-fledged gallop, veering away from the Wall and racing back up the hill and towards the forest, kicking up snow as they went. Ymir shoved herself off of the ground and grabbed her horse, running alongside it with the reins in hand as she waited for Krista to catch up. Her feet pounded through a snow, and she began to work up a sweat, eyes narrowed, determined on keeping her partner in eyesight. The instant the blonde rode past her, she kicked off of the ground, jumping into her stirrups with ease and urging her horse forward; they fled as quickly as possible, with Mike racing ahead of the group, Eren under his arm and a solemn expression on his face. The others took up the rear, and together the ragtag group sped away from the danger, their eyes wide and their hearts burning.

 _Looks like we're not out of the woods yet._

…..

"Anyone for tea?" Eren held up the metal pot, grinning victoriously. "It's my first batch!"

"Eren, if you poison us, I swear to Maria I'm going to shove my sword up your ass," Keiji muttered, holding out his canteen for the boy to fill. "On the other hand, if it's any good, I'll ask that you keep it coming."

"Yes, sir," Eren replied. They'd set up camp on a cliff overlooking a valley; the view was extraordinary, and had it not been for Sasha, they wouldn't have found it. It was peaceful, quiet; the crackling fire offered a warm glow, soothing their troubles. They'd had one hell of a night; it was time to rest. Eren had taken only an hour to fully heal from the blast to his face; Mikasa, however, was still unconscious, laying next to Armin and Levi underneath a canvas shelter next to the treeline. It was calm, in a way; they were safe, they had a place to rest, and nobody had died that day.

"I'll try a little," Sasha said, and Eren grinned, feeling appreciated as he filled the girl's canteen. The others gradually opened up to the idea, and when Eren finally sat with his own canteen, all of his worries had vanished, if only temporarily.

"Oi," a low voice suddenly said from the trees. "I'll have some."

"Levi!" Hange leaped to their feet, arms outstretched; their canteen spilled to the ground, but they didn't notice, racing towards the small man and squeezing him tightly. "You're awake!"

"Please," the man croaked, shoving forcefully away from them. "Tea."

Eren stood, slowly making his way towards the man; Nifa followed, eyes wide. "Sir, are you feeling okay?"

"No," Levi replied, taking a shaky step towards the campfire. "Eren. Now."

The boy offered a quick salute, turning on his heel and grabbing the pot, filling an extra canteen with its contents. He handed it to Levi, who greedily shoved it to his mouth, downing it without pausing. When it was empty, he handed it back to Eren, taking another shaky step towards the campfire.

"Sir, maybe we should help you," Nifa began, but Levi shook his head.

"I don't need help," he grunted. "I need to sit."

Goggles got up from his sleeping bag, offering his place to Levi; the man took it without a second glance, crossing his legs and warming his hands by the fire. Goggles joined Keiji on his bag, and they watched Levi with wide eyes, clearly having mixed feelings about their superior waking up. Hange returned to their sleeping bag, sitting cross-legged on it and observing Levi's behavior; Nifa began to pour Levi another canteen of tea, eyes sympathetic.

"Where's Jean?" Levi asked groggily, glancing around. "He was with my squad."

Eren's heart dropped. "Sir, don't you remember?"

Levi froze, eyes hardening. After a moment, he responded. "Yes. I do."

"Guys?" Armin's voice called from the trees, and he approached, far more balanced than Levi. He was pressing a hand against his head. "Hi."

"Armin!" Eren exclaimed, rushing forward and grabbing his friend similar to the way Hange had. Overwhelming joy soared through his body, and he felt himself grinning. "You're awake!" Tears bubbled at his eyes. "Of course you are!"

"Eren, I just need to rest," Armin murmured, eyes downcast. He didn't hug his friend back. "Please."

The brown-haired boy took a step back, eyes glittering. "Okay, yeah, I'll get you a bag!" _That way you can sleep without obstruction._ He turned on his heels, racing to complete his promise. _Armin, I'll give you anything you need! Just name it!_

Armin sat next to Levi, grabbing Eren's canteen and drinking its contents. Eren felt pride fill his heart; his brew had been a success! Even Levi seemed to have enjoyed it! He couldn't keep from smiling as he laid out two more sleeping bags, his heart soaring. He'd been fully aware of the possibility of Armin's demise, but his denial had kept him going; it seemed as though his mental stance on the matter were a victory as he sat beside his friend, green eyes sparkling.

"Did you two dream?" Hange suddenly asked, pressing their hands against their mouth contemplatively. "Sometimes certain plants can cause lucid dreaming. It'd be interesting if golden chain were one of them."

"...golden chain?" Levi's eyes darkened. "I was thorough in removing those leaves."

Eren's smile faded, and he glanced at Sasha and Connie, eyes downcast. _You guys should have known he'd figure it out sooner or later._

"There was a slight mix-up," Hange replied, voice calm. "We're all very well-instructed in terms of poisonous plants now, thanks to Molbit. Nothing to worry about. Now, please, this is an important scientific breakthrough we're discussing here. Did you two dream?"

"Yes," Armin replied. "We shared one."

"A shared dream?" Hange's eyes widened, their expression changing to one of surprise and excitement. "You guys shared a dream?! Is that even possible?"

"Yes," Levi replied flatly. "It apparently is." He glanced away from the scientist and towards the crackling fire. "Drop it."

"Captain," Armin began, but Levi was standing, turning his back on the others and retreating to the sleeping bag Eren had put out. The boy couldn't help but feel a spark of curiosity in his chest. _I thought he and Hange were close enough to talk about anything together. I guess I was wrong._

Armin let out a large yawn, stretching his arms out and offering the brown-haired boy a grateful grin. "Thanks for this, Eren," he said. "But I'm getting tired. I think I'm going to go to sleep." Without another word, he jumped to his feet, walking stiffly to his sleeping bag and sitting down on it to take off his boots and coat. The curiosity didn't die; Eren had known Armin almost his entire life, and the blonde never acted like that. It was almost as though he were hiding something, but Eren shoved it aside, offering a small nod and standing. _He's just tired. I don't think they really slept all that well while unconscious. A nice, long sleep ought to do him some good. And then maybe we can talk about what happened while he was gone._

Satisfied, the cadet turned, heading to his own sleeping bag. Perhaps it would be a long-overdue night of peace; it certainly looked that way as he sat, unbuckling the bag around his waist and undoing his grey coat. _And when Mikasa wakes up, we'll finally all be together for the first time in a long time. That'll be nice. Who knows? Maybe we'll get a chance to sit around a fire and drink tea, too! With my newfound skill, anything is possible. Anything._

…..

The soldiers were long asleep, their quiet forms peaceful against the darkness of night. Armin and Levi, however, had not joined them; they sat adjacent to one another at the edge of the cliff, looking out across the snow-covered valley. The stars shone brilliantly overhead, with patches of cloud blotting out the moon; a quiet breeze drifted lazily through the air.

It reminded Levi of his brief discussion with Isabel and Farlan; their smiling faces flashed across his eyes, and sadness slammed into his heart, tears beginning to brim on his eyelids. He couldn't help but feel shame weighing heavily on his shoulders, and he pressed himself into the snow, grey eyes downcast.

"I'm sorry."

Armin glanced at him, confusion in his eyes. "...what?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Armin leaned back on his arms, letting his legs swing over the edge of the cliff.

"For…. all of it," Levi whispered, eyes softening. "I… I screwed up, I really did, and I didn't notice it..."

"Levi, if this is about the dream-"

"No, it's not," came the quiet response. His hand crawled up his jacket, touching the place where Jean's badge was tucked. "I.. I've let down so many people…" Tears began to fall freely, his hair falling over his face as he curled in on himself. "They all died in my name, their blood is on my hands, it's my fault they're gone…"

Armin didn't respond. His position was identical to Isabel's on the night they'd had their final chat; Levi's heart shattered into an uncountable number of pieces, and he saw her dead eyes staring at him, her bloodied face, her rain-soaked pigtails muddied by the wet earth; the pain and guilt from that day washed over him, this time multiplied.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, hand grabbing his hair tightly and gripping it, the black strands falling through his fingers as tears began to stream down his face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I sent them to their deaths, I killed them, it's my fault, I'm sorry…" He curled in on himself, bringing his legs to his chest, cravat suddenly tight against his neck as his other hand gripped the other side of his hair. "Sorry…."

"Levi-"

"I said I'm sorry," he interrupted, burying his face in his knees. Tears fell down his cheeks in waves, his teeth clenched tightly together. He was seeing _their_ bodies, _their_ faces, sobbing, crying, reaching for him, their bloodsoaked skin burning in his head. He didn't know how to help them, how to save them; he'd always been there to watch them, to keep them safe, but he was failing at it, and it hurt worse than any wound a Titan could inflict. He let out a choked sob. "Petra, Oluo, Gunther, Eld, Isabel, Farlan, Erwin, Bertolt, Reiner, Jean… forgive me." He suddenly grasped the badge in his pocket, pulling it out and pressing it to his forehead, tears splashing against the snow. "Please… I'm sorry…."

"Hey," Armin said, voice shaky, as though he were speaking to a ghost. His tone only caused Levi more pain. _He's not talking to me anymore, he's talking to something he fears, like I'm one of the monsters that I've worked hard to eliminate._ "It's okay."

"I've been living my life on the basis of making the right choice," Levi whispered hoarsely, choking out another sob. "But I don't think I've made a single correct choice in my life. Just when I think I've done the right thing, someone dies, and the blood is on my hands, and it's a cycle, a never-ending circle of decision-making and possibility weighing.." Another choking sob racked his body, and he curled in on himself further, squeezing his hair as well as the badge, eyes flowing. "I choose what I'll regret the least, that's what I tell myself, but it's a lie, it doesn't matter what I choose anymore, it will only be more pain and death.. in the underground, with you, I… I shouldn't have gone down there, shouldn't have led you into danger..."

Silence. He could feel Armin staring at him, and he couldn't help but hear the laughing and joking of those who had died in his name. _They had families. People to go home to. People who cared about them. People they trusted, people who they could laugh and joke around with with ease. I took that away from them. I took away sons, daughters, friends, lovers. It's all because of me. I'm a monster, a danger to humanity. There is another way, though._ "I'm sick of making choices. There's one option left that will fix this, that will stop the deaths in my name, that will stop me from making the wrong choice again…" His sobbing gradually began to lift, his hands falling from his messy hair to the snowy ground. "And then the only death will be mine, and my faults will no longer be lethal. Every badge that I collect, that I have ever collected, makes me regret the result of that choice less."

He placed Jean's crumpled and torn badge on the ground, resting a hand over it. "So? What should I do? Keep going and watch the ones I try so desperately to keep alive die, or finally make the right choice and leave this world to the hell which is reserved for me? You're the smart one, you tell me." And with that, he reached into his pocket, pulling out the knife he'd received unknowingly from Armin. He flicked it with his wrist, holding it by the blade and offering the handle to the blonde. "I'm sick of making choices."

…..

Armin was flustered; Levi's words had caught him off guard. _What? That's ridiculous!_ But was it really? If what Levi had said was true, then he had more blood on his fingers than anyone else. But that didn't compare to the countless lives he'd saved, to the souls who would be long dead had he not intervened. The boy sat, unmoving, thinking; finally, he furrowed his eyebrows and grabbed the knife, raising his arm and throwing it off of the cliff. The blade briefly gleamed in the silver moonlight before disappearing into the snow below. Levi stared after it, expression one of dismay.

"No," the blonde said, pushing away from the ledge and standing.

Levi stood, as well, turning his back on the boy. "I can't do this anymore, Armin," he said, fresh tears falling. "I knew better than to expect you to understand. I can't keep watching them risk everything for nothing." On that note, he began to walk quickly towards the forest, hand gripping Jean's badge tightly. "Not because of me."

Armin began to follow, eyes hardening. _Damnit, Levi, no!_ When Levi broke into a run, Armin followed suit, sidestepping around the sleeping soldiers and racing into the trees after the man. _Stop running away!_

The path through the snow was barely visible, but what little Armin could see was erratic; the man'd been running blindly, and parts of the path only barely missed the towering trees. He could hear sobbing from up ahead; he was growing close, but the shadows stretched cruelly across the ground, shielding Humanity's Strongest from view.

Suddenly, the boy heard a loud thud, and he skidded to a stop, boots sliding along the ice with a wave of snow. A break in the overhead branches revealed the scene before him: Levi was on his knees, head bowed, hands clenching the badge, tears dripping from his cheeks and onto the cold ground. The rest of the world was shadowed. "I made the wrong choice _again,_ " he whispered. "I ran away."

Armin stared at him, eyes wide. _You never run away,_ he realized, heart dropping. _You don't run away, even when your life depends on it. This… this hurts._

"Face it, Armin," Levi muttered, tears continuing to fall. "There will never be anything I can do to make a difference. I have one choice left."

"That's not a choice you should be considering," Armin softly replied, expression sympathetic. "I once had the opportunity to make it, but I didn't. Do you know why?"

At this, he looked up at the broken patch of starry sky, blue eyes sparkling. "There's too much at stake. We have yet to conquer our enemies, yet to truly understand what we're up against, and yet to find a reason for our deaths. Let's face it, we're in the dark; don't you at least want to know why they died? What they died for?"

"They-"

"You say they died in your name due to your poor decision-making skills, but somehow I don't think that's the reason. Everybody talks about how they offered their lives for the sake of humanity, but I don't think that's the full reason, either. I think they died because they were protecting their own humanity, as well."

"Their own humanity?..."

"Think about it, Levi. We're living in a world where it's easy to screw up, where it's easy to become the enemy just as quickly as you thought you were prepared to become the savior. Look at the traffickers. They have nothing left to die for. They became monsters. But we're straying away from that path. And if it means dying, then so be it. We're dying so that we don't turn into _them._ As soldiers, we offer our hearts to humanity as a whole, which includes ourselves. When we kill Titans, we kill them for our friends." He paused, heart fluttering a bit. _That's right. We kill them for the people we care about._ "We kill them for our families, if we have any left. We kill them to protect the innocents living behind the Walls. We do what we do so that humanity is kept safe. We make our own decisions, whether another person influences them or not; and if we're in our right minds, we sacrifice ourselves so that our world will be kept safe." The words were falling from his mouth, as though he'd been waiting to say them for a long time. "We keep ourselves human by protecting others; we keep ourselves human by risking it all for the betterment of mankind."

Armin glanced at Levi, who was staring at Jean's badge; he'd continued to hold it tightly, and it was now crumpled. "I've been doing a terrible job of protecting people."

"We're all alive because of you," Armin replied. "You're the reason the people behind the Walls live in safety. Captain Levi is there to keep us safe. I learned a long time ago that, by embracing your flaws, you can learn to overcome them. Making the right choice comes with time. If you keep shoving away the bad things about you, you'll never improve."

"I haven't been improving, and I've been making the wrong choices for longer than you've been alive," Levi replied, head bowing further and shoulders bunching up. "My faults are lethal. I'm nothing but a monster, worse than the people selling innocents into slavery, worse than any of the creatures we've come across so far."

"Levi," Armin said, kneeling beside the man and resting a hand on his shoulder, "stop saying that. Those people willingly gave their lives. They chose the fates they received. Learn to accept your bad aspects and use them to your advantage. Learn to overcome them. If you don't, it'll rip you apart worse than any Titan could."

Levi glanced up at that, pupils contracted and tears streaming down his face. "I deserve to be ripped apart for the tragedy I've caused," he whispered.

"No," Armin refused, grabbing the man's hand and pulling him to his feet. Images of Eren doing the same to him as kids briefly flashed across his mind. "That's not true, and you know it isn't. You're too valuable to us. Please."

Levi looked again at Jean's badge, fingers tightening over it. "She loved animals," he whispered hoarsely, a single tear running down his wet cheek. Armin was taken aback; what was he talking about? "She… she found a bird, in the underground, and she kept it, healing it, nursing it back to health. She loved it, and they formed a bond… she was sad to release it, but when she did, it was liberating, and she knew she'd be just fine with us. That bird was so important to her. She took it everywhere she went." His voice cracked, and he smiled, shocking Armin. "When we were learning how to ride horses, she was a natural. Didn't need any instruction, apart from the basics. The horses loved her as much as she loved them. Farlan thought she loved them more than us, and that may have been partially true. Her natural bond with animals always impressed me. She had plenty of quirks, but her love for wildlife was one of the better ones."

Armin remained silent through all of his, his heart breaking further. _Oh, Levi._

"The last time we spoke without worry was the night before. She and Farlan asked me to believe in them, to trust them to finish what we started… I agreed. She was so happy, telling me I could rely on them…. only for them to die the next day." Levi's hand tightened over Jean's badge. "But now I understand that they didn't die because I trusted them. They died fighting their enemy, and I avenged them. I protected their memory. And I'll do the same with the others, with Jean and Petra and Oluo and Eld and the rest. I will keep them alive when nobody else will. Their deaths give me strength; without it, I would be unable to protect anybody else." He turned towards Armin, still smiling. "It's time for you to sleep, Armin." With that, he turned, sticking the badge back into his pocket as he followed his path back to camp.

"Yes, sir," Armin replied, following. He couldn't help but feel a bit of dread within his heart. _You know things are bad when Captain Levi, humanity's strongest soldier and the man of few expressions, breaks down in front of one of his cadets. I can't begin to think about what would happen if Eren and Mikasa died. That must have been hell for him. I can only imagine the amount of stress he must be under, but unfortunately that'll have to wait. We have more pressing matters at hand here._

…..

They rode through the deep snow, breath swirling in the cold air. Armin rode near the front of the group, leading the cargo horses; the cadets had formed a circle around them, and the veterans followed at a walk, eyes heavy. Mikasa was still unconscious, tied to her horse vertically with her legs hanging over its shoulders; she was being led by Ymir.

"So the Garrison are against us," Armin murmured, glancing at Hange. "Which means we can't return to safety." His heart dropped. _We're going to die in the cold, alone and forgotten._

"We're going to run out of food," Levi stated. Armin frowned at that.

"I can hunt," Sasha piped up, "but there's a shortage of prey here."

"We're Titan chow," Connie muttered, eyes downcast. "There's no way we're going to make it back alive."

"If we cut around to the Southern district, we can go through the gates at Trost," Hange replied. "Pixis will let us in."

"Who's in charge of the northern district?" Eren asked from behind Armin, eyes narrowed. "I thought Pixis was in charge of the entire Garrison."

"Pixis commands the Garrison, but he's in charge of the defense of the southern region," Hange explained. "Desperate soldiers in the north would know how to slip under his radar. The only way we can relay this information to the nobles is to return to Trost."

"The nobles," Levi repeated with disgust. "Fat pigs gorging themselves within the safety of Sina, you mean? They won't do anything for us. They haven't in the past."

"This directly affects them," Hange replied. "They'll do it on their own selfish whim, if nothing else."

"Then let's hurry up and get to Trost," Eren said, eyes hardening. "Before we're finished off."

"If we hurry, we'll use our supplies faster," Armin replied, expression stiffening. The horses had slowed to a walk, their heads lowered, breath visible in the crisp air; there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it seemed almost peaceful.

"So what, we just take it easy while we wait for the wolves to get us? I like you, Armin, but that's ridiculous," Connie said, glancing at the boy with narrowed eyes. "I agree with Eren on this one, we should hurry."

Ymir snorted. "Armin's got the right idea. It's a waste of supplies to go faster than we need to. Plus, we don't face running out of weapons, considering the fact that we have Eren."

"Out of the question," Levi said flatly. "We don't have the energy to control him in the case that he goes berserk."

This earned him a side-glance from Eren, who looked a touch offended. Armin stepped in quickly, noticing the boy's expression. "Maybe we can rely on other means on weaponry- Sasha, you know how to make arrows, right?"

"Yeah!" Sasha yipped in response, brown eyes gleaming. "I can also make bows, and I think I remember how to make spears, too."

"I know how to make certain concoctions that immediately put people in vegetative states-"

"Hange." Levi's voice was flat; he clearly disagreed with that idea.

"It's true! And I can make Molotovs, too, and I know how to make explosives that could easily wipe out an army of wolves-"

"Maybe we can make flaming arrows, then!" Sasha interrupted, beaming. "The people in my village used to make them all the time when they were being faced with wild dogs. I never did learn how, but apparently, you can keep the fire going long after the arrow hits its target if you use the right stuff."

"That's a myth," Mike intervened, glancing at the two. "Keeping the fire going requires more than we have in our supply boxes. You can, however, use alcohol in the place of gasoline for a brief flame. I'm sure Molbit has plenty of alcohol, but gas is a bit rarer and I advise against using it."

Molbit visibly shrunk at this, eyes narrowing and hand reaching instinctively towards his flask. Armin glanced at him sympathetically. _And take away your coping mechanism? I don't think so._ "It's fine, we have plenty of alcohol in the medical kits."

"Thank you, Armin," Molbit whispered, hand returning to his reins. Armin smiled at him, but Ymir snorted.

"Maria forbid we get rid of his wine," she laughed. "Or he'll throw a Titan-sized fit."

"Ymir," Krista warned, nudging her with an elbow. "That's not nice."

"It's true, though."

"Please can we just keep riding?" the soldier in question asked, hazel eyes wide. He glanced warily at Mike, kicking his horse to a faster gait.

"Molbit," Hange soothed, riding their horse up next to his. "We won't use your wine for flaming arrows. It was a simple suggestion, okay?"

"Okay," Molbit replied, still sounding cautious. "But if we do make flaming arrows, we'll use all of the medical alcohol and won't have any left in the case of an emergency. It's a bad idea."

"Buddy, this entire situation is an emergency," Keiji commented with a frown. "If I may speak my mind, though, flaming arrows would be a waste of time, as well as destructive to the environment around us. We need to use the available resources as much as possible, and that'll be a problem if we burn it all down around us."

"We wouldn't have a problem if we just hurried up," Connie muttered begrudgingly.

"Connie, we can't hurry up," Krista muttered. "If we do, we die." Armin swore her voice sounded deep, the way it had when she'd spoken to Levi in the forest, after Jean's death.

"Krista," Connie said, glancing at the blonde girl, "what's up with your voice these days?"

"And don't call yourself sick," Levi piped up, turning to look at the girl from the corner of his eye. "You're not sick."

She shrunk back, eyes dull. She looked… different. "You guys are imagining things! I sound normal. At least, I _think_ I do!"

Armin wasn't buying it. He slowed his horse to a stop, turning it to look Krista dead in the eye. Levi and Connie followed suit, and Hange pulled back on their reins, sitting back on the cantle of their saddle with curiosity in their eyes. The others did the same, with Ymir backing her horse so that her stirrups brushed Krista's.

"Oh, come _on,_ " Ymir said, sounding bored. "There's nothing wrong with her, and we're wasting time with this. Let's just get going."

"You're hiding something," Hange stated. "Might be worth our time, depending on what it is."

"I'm not hiding anything!" the girl insisted. "You guys are starting to scare me!"

"Krista," Sasha said, eyes softening. "You can tell us anything. We'll keep it secret, we promise!" She rode her horse forward, stopping next to Krista and holding out her pinky. "Pinky swear!"

When Krista didn't budge, the brunette glanced around, smiling. "Come on, guys! Pinky promise you won't tell anybody!"

"This is pointless, Sasha," Connie sighed, but nonetheless rode forward, extending a pinky to the blonde. "But I support you."

"...yeah, okay," Eren said, also riding up to the girl and offering a finger. "I'm in."

"Me, too," Armin said, also riding to Krista and sticking his pinky into the mess. _If this is what it takes to find out what's up with Krista, I'll do something this childish._

He was surprised when Levi dismounted, approaching the girl and holding up his hand, pinky extended. Hange, Mike, Nifa, Keiji, and Goggles followed suit, and Ymir finally held out a hand. Krista was overwhelmed; she stared at them all, blue eyes wide, before swallowing and backing her horse up a bit.

"Okay," she said. "My name isn't actually Krista Lenz, and I'm not what you think I am."

"Then who are you, really?" Ymir asked, eyes soft. Armin noticed that she looked almost kind, as though she were capable of it. "We promised, you can talk to us. You can talk to me."

"Historia Reiss," the girl replied. "My name is Historia Reiss."

"Wasn't so hard, was it?" Ymir grinned, eyes sparkling. "That's my-"

"If any of you say a word to anybody else, you won't like the outcome," Historia interrupted, eyes blazing. Armin felt his stomach drop at that.

"You're really cute when you're angry," Connie laughed, and Armin internally cringed. Historia glared down at him, blue eyes full of fury.

"Krista was," she growled, "but Historia isn't, so shut it."

The boy snapped his mouth shut. _Wise move, Connie,_ Armin thought, backing his horse away from the furious girl.

"As for _you,_ " she said, rounding on Levi, "I have something to say to you."

"Save it," he replied, unfazed. He turned, heading back for his horse. "We need to get moving."

"I don't think so," she replied. "You don't scare me, Levi, for one. And secondly, I'm sick of your complaints."

He froze in his tracks at that. "Excuse me?"

"Constantly muttering about how unclean we are?"

"Yes, your point?"

"Unstick your head from your ass and realize we have bigger problems on our hands now."

Armin froze; shock crossed his face, and he noticed that the others were reacting similarly. _Shit, did she really just say that to him?!_

"Yes, ma'am," Levi replied, continuing towards his horse. "Now let's leave."

The veterans mounted their horses, and they returned to their circle, following Hange through the deep snow. Armin felt his heart pound against his chest. _I don't think I like Historia. She's unnerving._ It appeared as though the feeling were mutual; Goggles and Keiji wore similar expressions of disdain on their faces, while Connie looked downright terrified. Only Ymir seemed unmoved by it; she was grinning, riding beside Historia with a smug look on her face.

"It's gonna be a long day," Eren muttered to Armin. The blonde nodded quickly, blue eyes wide.

"Agreed. Let's just hope she doesn't kill us before we reach Trost. Something tells me she has a bone to pick with all of us."

"I heard that," Historia said from behind them, and Armin immediately shut up. _She's going to be a piece of work._

…..

"So, finally decide to be useful for once?" Historia asked. Keiji glanced up, eyes narrowed.

"Look, I don't appreciate being bossed around by some feisty-"

"Good, glad to hear."

They'd been riding for hours now, and the sun was beginning to set, splashing warm colors across the ice; Sasha had scouted out another decent campsite, this one being a small clearing in the middle of a thinning deciduous forest. They'd set up a campfire, and Mike was in the process of cooking meat over it; they still had quite a bit left from the trafficker camp, as well as bread and alcohol. Keiji was in charge of tying down the canvas flaps of cloth that served as shelters for the perishables, but according to Historia, it was the first time he'd been doing anything useful.

"And you, Levi," the girl said, leaving Keiji in a sweat. Levi was sitting in the snow, looking over Armin's journal; he glanced up as the girl approached. "What are you doing that's productive?"

"Going over information-"  
"Not good enough, that's Hange's job. You need to get off your ass and start tying things down. The wind's starting to pick up."

"Historia, this has gone on long enough. You're not superior to any of us."

"Do you see the progress going on?" the girl asked, crossing her arms. "Tell me I'm not making things happen here in your favor."

"...fine." He stood, closing the journal and walking towards the cargo that still needed to be worked with. He set the journal on a box and grabbed a rope, beginning to fasten the bags and boxes together.

"Okay," she smiled, looking around approvingly. "Thank you all for complying. Enough of the disorganization- we'll be able to find things now."

Armin finished tightening the canvas shelters and rushed to help Levi, not wanting to be caught resting. _She'll skin me alive._ He reached for some rope and began to tie down bags, glancing at the man as he did so. "She's really something," he commented, quiet enough not to be heard by the girl.

"Yeah," Levi agreed, voice hushed. "I'm impressed. Even Hange's obeying her orders. I haven't seen Sasha or Connie act up yet, either."

"She's definitely effective," Armin replied, glancing at the girl to make sure she wasn't listening. He frowned a bit, watching as she verbally tore into Nifa for incorrectly stacking boxes. _Thank Maria I'm doing this correctly. I don't want to be torn apart. If Mikasa were awake, we'd have some issues, I think. She doesn't take kindly to unnecessarily strict orders._

"I may be harsh," Levi muttered, "but I don't think I could make Nifa cry if I tried."

Armin's expression darkened at that. Sure enough, he could see tears streaming down the dark-haired girl's face as she straightened boxes. "She's being too harsh. Someone needs to step in."

"Oi," Levi called, straightening a bit. "Historia. Come here."

Historia obeyed, smiling as she approached. "Yes, Levi?"

"What's it to you that we do all of this?"

"Captain, let me enlighten you about faking a personality," she replied, voice sickeningly sweet. Armin felt true fear course through his heart. "Whenever something happens, you have an opinion, a reaction, but when you're someone else, you have to ignore it. You have to make one up. And even if you don't believe it, you have to remember it." Levi looked a bit taken aback by this. "Meaning, I've had to keep my mouth shut and watch you idiots fumble around me for years, and I haven't been able to say a single word about it. You wanted to know my secret?" Her voice raised at this. "Well, here it is! 6 years is a long time to be silent, so how about you stop fooling around and get back to work, okay?"

"Yes, Historia," Armin quickly said, returning to the task of tying things down. "Sorry for slacking."

"6 years of silence does take a toll," Levi agreed, turning back to the boxes and bags. "We'll continue to help however we can."

Satisfied, Historia turned, returning to her self-imposed position of superiority. Armin and Levi shared a glance before working efficiently towards effectively securing the cargo. _I don't want to be yelled at anymore. Not by her._ He didn't necessarily feel resentment towards the girl, but he certainly didn't feel as though she were his friend. Not at that moment.

When the job was finished, they returned to the campfire. Mike had completed his cooking, and the others were beginning to gather, hunger gnawing at their stomachs. Armin found it a little too good to be true that they had two meals a day; the trafficker camp couldn't have been mere luck. Something was gnawing at the back of his mind about it. _Maybe it wasn't just the tea that's off._ He recalled the large amount of moldy bread that was being kept back at the camp; perhaps that had something to do with it?...

"Hey, Armin," Eren said, shaking him out of his thoughts. "Think it'd be a good idea for me to try making tea again? It was really successful last night, I kind of want to give it a second try!"

"...sure," Armin replied, glancing at him. _He looks hopeful, like things are looking up for us. Maybe they are. Maybe I'm just overthinking things._ He gladly accepted the sliver of meat that was passed to him, eyes softening as he glanced at the meat in his hands. He wouldn't be eating any of it, of course; he was still healing, and he wasn't an idiot. _But we have a lot of meat now. Meat's been pretty rare since Wall Maria's fall, so why did the traffickers have so much of it? And where did they get this much salt? This is all making me queasy._

"Hey, Levi, do you have any tea leaves?" Eren asked, green eyes shining.

Levi pointed towards one of the boxes, mouth full of meat. The boy leaped to his feet, skidding over to the box and opening it, pulling out a couple of leaves from inside and grabbing a pot from the same box before returning to the fire. "I'll make it a good batch!"

"Yeah, and then you'll clean it up," Historia said, eyes softening for once. "But some tea would be nice. It was really good last night."

That only seemed to motivate him further. He quickly tossed a couple of handfuls of snow into the pot, letting it melt with an eager smile.

"Let it heat up for a few minutes," Levi instructed, watching casually. "Make sure you have enough leaves for each of us, or it'll be water by the time it makes the full circuit."

"Yes, sir!" Eren's enthusiasm was tangible as he turned, heading towards the box and retrieving a few more leaves.

"Molbit, you removed the golden chain, right?" Hange said quietly, looking at the man. He gave a quick nod, taking a swig from his canteen of alcohol. Armin felt a bit unnerved by that. _Eren, your intentions are great, but please, don't poison us. I might not wake up next time. I know Levi almost didn't._

A few moments passed before Levi spoke again. "Alright, it's ready. Pour it over the individual leaves. Four-eyes probably showed you how yesterday, but they weren't quite right with it- it was a little watery. This is the proper way to make it."

Eren took the pot off of the fire, and Armin pulled out his canteen, passing it towards Molbit. _Tea just doesn't sound good right now._ He was still feeling pain in his stomach, and knew that alcohol sometimes drowned out pain. He went off of what he knew, watching as the man took it and glanced around before pouring some of his drink into it before passing it back discreetly.

Everybody else passed their canteens to Eren, who set them aside, putting leaves into each of them and pouring the water over them. As they waited for it to steep, Armin unscrewed the cap on his canteen, lifting it to his lips and taking a small swig. He wasn't quite prepared for the burning sensation it caused; he coughed a bit, covering his mouth with his arm in an attempt to ward off curious eyes. _That stings,_ he thought, taking another- more reluctant- swig of the stuff.

This time, he felt the effects immediately. His stomach felt warm, calm; the pain vanished, and he glanced at his canteen, eyes narrowing. _What is this? My grandfather used to put wine into some of the things he cooked, but this tastes nothing like that. This is stronger._

He was interrupted by Hange, who roughly reached across Molbit and grabbed the canteen out of his hands. Surprised, Armin fell back, watching with wide eyes as they peered inside, sniffing the contents.

"Molbit," they said, voice dark, "is this what I think it is?"

"Y-yes, squad leader, but I-"

"Molbit, you know better than this."

"But he-"

"I don't care. Sharing alcohol with kids is wrong."

That caught everybody's attention. Levi glanced at Armin, eyes narrowed, while Eren looked at him, expression shocked.

"Armin, you were.. _drinking?_ " he said, eyes wide. "Armin, you know that's not okay for kids!"

"Welcome to the club, kiddo," Ymir grinned, reaching towards Hange and snatching the canteen from their hands, raising it to her lips and chugging it.

"Hey!" Historia exclaimed. "I want some!" Before she could grab it, however, Hange intervened, taking it back with a shove to Ymir's chest.

"Cadets, stop!" they ordered, eyes blazing as they turned on Molbit. "Molbit, look at what you started!"

"I'm sorry, Hange, I didn't mean for them all to go after it, I just thought Armin might be in pain from his injuries," Molbit whispered, nervously shoving his own canteen against his lips and chugging the contents.

Hange sighed, leaning back and adjusting their goggles. "Fine, but only Armin. Nobody else under the age of… shall we say 18?"

"Why 18?" Ymir asked, eyes shining.

"That's when your body is ready for alcohol."

"Then I'm grand!" Ymir reached for the canteen, grabbing it once again and drinking from it. "It tastes great!"

"But Ymir, you're 17, not 18," Historia interjected, eyes narrowed.

"Sure thing, honey," Ymir replied, continuing to drink. "Hey, Molbit, this is some of the best wine I've ever tasted. What is it?"

"Not wine," Molbit whispered in response, taking another nervous swig from his canteen. "S-sorry, squad leader…" He was visibly shaking, sweat beading on his forehead. Armin couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"What is it, then?" Levi asked, eyeing the man disapprovingly.

"It looks like brandy," Hange commented, eyes narrowed.

"Smells like gin," Mike added.

"And kicks the same punch as vodka," Ymir said, taking another swig.

"Molbit," Hange stated, expression falling. "What the hell have you been drinking?"

"...a mix," he whimpered, curling in on himself. "I'm sorry, squad leader, I'm really sorry.."

"Ymir, you should not be drinking that," Levi commented dryly. "Nobody should be. Their intestines'll burn out before they can be gotten to by any Titan."

Molbit let out a choked sob at that, and Armin felt himself gag a bit internally. _Shit, what did you give me?! I don't need any more holes in my gut!_

"You're not to drink any more of this, do you understand me?" Hange said, grabbing the canteen from Molbit's hands and chucking it into the forest. The contents splashed to the cold ground as the metal container came to rest. "Enough is enough."

Molbit let out a cry of alarm, scrambling to his feet and racing after it, fingers grasping the darkened snow as he sobbed loudly. "Squad leader!"

Mike slowly got to his feet, approaching the man and helping him to stand. "It's okay," he said, and Molbit crumpled into his arms, crying and shrieking in pain and sadness. Armin had never heard anything quite so pitiful in his entire life. _Hange can be cruel when they want to be._

"Oh, come on, I still have some left," Ymir smirked. "And I'm going to drink it all in front of you, buddy."

"Ymir, be nice," Historia snapped, snatching the canteen from her hands and standing, approaching the sobbing mess of a soldier. "Here, Molbit, you can have the rest." She handed it to the man, who shakily took it, raising it to his mouth and gulping it down, still sobbing into an emotionless Mike.

"Tea's ready," Eren croaked, bewilderment evident on his face as he raised the pot of water, arms limp. "If you want any."

"Yes," Levi said, turning back to the boy as though nothing had happened. Eren quickly filled the man's canteen and passed it forward. Hange turned towards him, as well, raising a hand; Eren wordlessly filled their canteen, as well, and gradually began to fill the others, clearly ignoring Molbit.

Armin suddenly dawned on something as he watched Eren pouring tea. _The overabundance of supplies was no accident. These meats, these foods…. the Military Police and Garrison uniforms… they all come from Mitras, inner Sina. The traffickers aren't operating without help from someone with wealth and power. Like Eren's tea, money is expendable in Sina, and you can always come by more of it, unless the source is removed. That means they're relying on a source of income, someone with connections to someone with connections. Which means we shouldn't be going to the royals with this information. They might already know._

"Do you still want some, Armin?" Eren asked, once again forcing the boy out of his thoughts. He smiled up at the brunette, forcing his eyes to glitter.

"Yes, please," he said, hiding the horrifying realization he'd come across. Eren passed him Ymir's canteen, and he held it in his hands, letting the warmth seep through his gloves.

 _We're facing a much greater enemy than Titans, wolves, or traffickers combined. We're being plotted against. The journal the trafficker pretended was mine? I might have been up to something when I was dissecting it for clues. Let's hope everything doesn't go to shit while we're trapped out here. That's all we can really do in our current situation- hope. But sometimes, hoping is enough to make it through the night._ He glanced up at the cloudy sky, a sense of emptiness coursing through him at the absence of stars. _Molbit's hope came from his alcohol, but that's gone now. I don't know how long it'll be before the others give up, as well. But when they do, it'll be disastrous. We'll be wiping ourselves out when we give up what little we have left, so let's keep it simple and hold on to it. Embracing what we have instead of dreading what we don't have should keep us going long enough for us to make a difference. In a world where everybody is against you, what do you do? You fight back. It's our last chance._ He watched as the group drank their tea and conversed, laughing, talking, joking, giggling. He liked the warm feelings they left in his heart, and he found himself smiling. _When we have nothing, we'll still have each other, and we'll have the collective hope for a better future. So you know what? Screw the Walls. Screw Sina, and the traffickers, and everything that's out to kill us. We'll get past this. I know we will._

 _We always do._


	7. Chapter 6- Schnee (Snow)

**Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long, everyone! 2016 was a bad year for me. There's plenty more where this came from, don't worry! I hope this makes up for my absence. I'll be back soon with another update! As always, reviews are appreciated! Thank you all for such positive messages, you're the reason I find the motivation to keep going. 3 Let's make the most of 2017!**

"After I finished cooking the deer, I resumed my search," Armin was saying, his blue eyes sparkling in the early morning light. Mikasa glanced at the boy, black eyes guarded.

 _No pawprints in the snow._ She adjusted the rifle on her back, holding the strap tightly with one hand and adjusting her coat with the other, pulling her red muffler over her nose for protection against the biting cold. _There's no prey here. Shouldn't they be talking about our next meal instead? There'll be time to talk about this later._

They were trudging through a meadow, lined on all sides by trees buried in the deep snow. It came up to Mikasa's knees; the hunting party was struggling through it, leaving a wide path in their wake. Every so often, she would turn her head to the side, ensuring they were all still there: Eren, Armin, Hange, Sasha, and Connie. _So far, so good. Everyone seems to be keeping up._

"How did you find the traffickers?" Eren asked, voice curious. "After that first encounter, I mean."

Armin frowned at that, glancing at the spruce trees that surrounded the small group of hunters. "I just sort of found them."

"Don't lie," Hange said, brown eyes bright as they scribbled notes in their journal. "We need to know exactly how you find them. Any and all information is important, you know."

Mikasa listened to the conversation, giving up her search; there was clearly nothing here, and she felt confident that Sasha would sniff out something eventually. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the brunette was busying herself with throwing snowballs at Connie, who kicked them out of the way as they rained down on him. Both were laughing and lagging behind.

 _Maybe we won't eat this morning, after all._

"I followed their tracks," Armin was explaining. "They thought I was some sort of bandit, since I was wearing a mix between my uniform and theirs. They took everything away from me and recruited me- I wasn't expecting it, but decided that it was my best bet at figuring out just what the hell those people were up to."

"How did they treat you?" Eren asked. Mikasa saw his hands tighten into fists, and her body tensed, preparing to hold him back. They slowed to a stop, and Hange took a step forward, hovering over Armin with a serious expression.

"They were very objectifying," Armin responded, eyes lowering. "It was hard to listen to. They were trying to dehumanize me when they first met me. I think it's because they were expecting me to die, and they didn't want to be attached when it happened. It was the same way they talked to me when I was kidnapped. Something tells me there's a little more going on than just sexism."

"You can't seriously be trying to justify what they did?!" Eren exclaimed in surprise. "After everything they said to you-"

"Words are just words," Armin responded swiftly. "What they said didn't bother me. It's _how_ they said it that caught my attention."

"I'll have to analyze this tonight," Hange said, pocketing the notebook and stuffing the pen back into their bag. "But I won't be analyzing anything if I starve to death! I'm hungryyy!" They pulled their rifle from their back and loaded it, raising it with a large, toothy grin. "Let's keep looking for food!"

Sasha's attention snapped to Hange at that, and she abandoned Connie in their favor, eyes sparkling. "Food? Did someone say food? Where?!"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Mikasa said. "Have you hunted in deep snow before?"

"Yeah!" Sasha exclaimed happily. "I can find us something to eat in a heartbeat! You'll see!" She leaped forward, shoving past Hange and beginning to run through the snow as fast as she could, jumping and swinging her arms, rifle secured tightly to her back.

She'd gone maybe three metres when a cracking sound filled the air; the earth began to shake, and suddenly she was gone, ripped downwards, arms flailing as she disappeared from sight. It took a few seconds for Mikasa to register what had happened as she raced towards the site with the others, rifles at the ready, alarmed shouts filling the meadow.

"Sasha!" Connie screamed, dropping to his knees and peering into the ground. Mikasa grabbed Eren and pulled him out of the way, desperate to see what was happening. Sasha had fallen into a deep hole; she lay on her back, eyes wide and staring up at the others, not responding, breath visibly rapid in the cold air. "Sasha! Come on! Are you okay?!"

When she didn't respond, Mikasa began pushing people out of the way, bending her knees to jump down after her; but Hange grabbed her by the muffler, dragging her backwards before she could move any further. "Don't be stupid, it's no use having the both of you down there." They turned towards Connie, eyes hardened from behind their goggles. "Springer, take Arlert and Jaeger and return to camp. Let the others know what's going on. Stay there."

"But squad leader!" Connie protested, but Hange silenced him with a cold glare. Mikasa's heart began to race, but she dared not retaliate against Hange; she didn't like the idea of leaving Eren and Armin alone, but she knew she had no choice.

"The situation is critical, Springer," they said. "Now go."

He swallowed and gave a nod, looking at Eren and Armin with fear. "L-let's go, guys…"

Armin gave a nod to Mikasa, and Eren touched her shoulder briefly before turning and heading back the way they'd come. She watched them leave, her heart racing; what if they were ambushed on their way back? What if they were attacked by Titans? She knew that there was power in numbers, but this was deadly. What if they'd fallen into a trap?

"Mikasa," Hange said, voice soothing, snapping the girl's attention away from her friends as they disappeared around a bend. "They'll be fine. Get your gun ready, we're going down there."

Doubts crossed her mind as she complied, loading her gun with shaky hands. What if they didn't come back out? Eren wouldn't be able to survive without her! And Armin… she'd already lost him once, there was no way she'd lose him again. She had to stay alive for them.

"H-hey, guys!" a weak voice exclaimed from under their feet, and Mikasa looked into the hole at Sasha, who had sat up and was rubbing her head. "I'm okay, just a little winded!"

"Braus, what do you see down there?" Hange asked, confusing Mikasa. _What do they mean? It's just a hole, isn't it?_ She peered closely into the darkness, trying to see what Hange meant, and found that it was a cavern; it was dimly lit, as though there was a light source, and the floor and walls were light blue in color. Sasha pushed herself to her feet, dusting her coat off and waving up at the two, smile wide on her face.

"It's super pretty!" she called back, her voice bouncing off of the walls. "There are a bunch of tunnels down here, too! I think they lead somewhere!"

"Don't follow them," Hange ordered immediately. "Wait for us to come down there. You don't know what might be in them." As they spoke, they slid their legs over the edge of the hole, scooting forward and getting ready to jump. Mikasa felt her adrenaline rush; this was not the day she wanted to die, but she knew she had to trust Hange's judgement. They were smart, right? They knew what they were doing. Despite this, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong, even as Hange pushed themself into the cavern with a "wheeeeee".

"Come on down!" they called, dusting themself off, rifle slung across their back. Mikasa gripped her gun tightly, shielding the trigger before taking one last glance at the trees and snow. _They're beautiful,_ she thought, the pines matching the color of Eren's eyes. She took a deep breath and sat down, slowly sliding her way over the edge of the hole before giving herself a large push. It was a shorter fall than she'd expected it to be; she landed with a roll, standing and glancing around.

Sasha had been right, it was beautiful. The walls of the cavern stretched over their heads, sparkling and reflective; bright tunnels stretched along the walls, leading to mysterious places. It had appeared dark from above, but it was quite the opposite, as Mikasa could see every crack and crevice in the walls of the cavern. Hange approached one of the tunnels, running their thumb across the side, a look of contemplation on their face. "It's ice," they said, "but these tunnels were carved."

"By who?" Mikasa asked, pulling her rifle over her shoulder and approaching, Sasha in tow. "Was it traffickers?"

"Let's find out!" Hange replied, delving into the tunnel. Mikasa hurried after them, having to take large steps to keep up; Sasha took up the rear, holding her gun at the ready, pointing it towards the ground. The tunnel was extensive, getting larger the further they went; at one point, it reached the size of the cavern they'd just come from. She couldn't help but feel that they were going in a circle; something wasn't right about these tunnels, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

"Sasha," she said, glancing over her shoulder as they walked briskly, "is anyone following us?"

"Nope!" the brunette chirped in response. "Doesn't feel like it."

Mikasa then smashed into Hange's back, reeling backwards and nearly trampling Sasha, who let out a surprised yelp that echoed back the way they'd come. Mikasa glanced back, making sure she was okay, before turning her focus to Hange. "What's going on?" The squad leader had stopped, shoulders rigid, staring at the floor with sparkling eyes.

"Shhhh," Hange whispered in response, holding a finger to their lips and kneeling. Mikasa had a clear view of what they were looking at, and her eyes widened in confusion.

An open journal was blocking their way. Hange carefully picked it up and stood, not touching the pages; it looked old, as though someone had accidentally dropped it. It was leatherbound, and Mikasa could see faint splotches of blood on the cover, as well as some water damage. Curiosity overcame her; she peeked over Hange's shoulders, trying to see what the open pages said.

"I've never seen this language," Hange said, voice hushed. "These tunnels are older than I thought. This is an anthropological artifact!"

"Why isn't it destroyed?" Sasha quivered, looking over her shoulder cautiously. "Don't journals get destroyed over time?"

"This is a controlled environment," Hange replied. "There's no weather to destroy it with, and there probably haven't been people down here in years. Let's keep going and see what else we can find!" They carefully closed the notebook, gently pocketing it before continuing forward at the same pace as before. The tunnel narrowed considerably after this. Sasha scrambled to keep up as Mikasa followed, suddenly alerted to the possible presence of humans. If there were traffickers down it, it was going to get ugly. She braced herself for the possibility of having to kill in order to fight her way out.

"Ooooooh!" Hange exclaimed as they rounded a corner, stopping abruptly once again. This time, Mikasa was ready, and she stopped safely, looking over Hange's shoulder to see what they'd found. There were bloody footprints on the icy floor, leading the way forward; they were perfectly preserved, just as the journal had been, and Hange whipped around, facing their accomplices. "Okay, you two! Avoid stepping on them to the best of your abilities!"

"Stepping on what?" Sasha asked, and Hange moved to the side, allowing the brunette to get a good look at what they'd found.

"There's a connection," Mikasa realized. The footprints were too far apart to have been made at a walk. "Someone was being chased."

"Yep!" Hange said, smiling. "That's right! But what were they running from?"

Sasha quickly glanced back the way they'd come, her eyes widening. "Um, squad leader?" Mikasa recognized the spark of fear on her face, but she looked back and saw nothing, nor did she hear anything. _Her instincts are usually right, there must be something there… but what? Maybe she's just overwhelmed by all of this new information. Still, I can't shake the feeling that there's something wrong._

"We're about to find out?" Hange's tone did not falter.

"Yeah. We need to run! I can hear them coming!"

"Get going!" They whirled on their heels and took off at a sprint. Mikasa unslung her rifle and followed closely, not knowing what was happening. _Are we being chased? What are they talking about? I didn't notice anything, we're alone down here!_

That's when she heard it: the faint clapping of paws beating against the ice. Some mammal was chasing them, and she tried to listen as they ran, their own footsteps echoing; she couldn't pick out any telltale signs of what might be pursuing them, but she heard the pawsteps growing louder, and she prepared herself to shoot whatever it was that was following them.

When they started passing bones, human bones, she knew it was serious. _Hange, what did you get us into?!_ Her mind flashed back to Eren and Armin, their silhouettes disappearing into the thick woods; she thought about what the consequences would be if she didn't make it out of here alive, and she began to pick up her pace, eyes blazing. The first set of steps were joined by three more; the animals were coming closer, their paws thundering against the ice, but she didn't dare look back, focusing on the back of Hange's grey coat. This was not the time to get distracted. It was only when Hange jumped over a ribcage that she dared to slow down; but her momentum was too fast, and her foot caught itself between two bones, sending her sprawling, rifle clattering to the ground beside her. Sasha's feet connected with her stomach, and she went flying, too, flipping around midair and landing on her back, aiming at the dogs- _not wolves,_ Mikasa thought as she grabbed her rifle- as they rapidly approached, teeth bared, claws digging into the frozen ground.

Hange skidded to a stop, turning and aiming their gun. A sense of communion was passed between the three soldiers; Mikasa knew what Sasha was going to do, and she knew what Hange was going to do, too. An unspoken warning was passed between them: they couldn't miss. If they missed, they would crack the ice and be stuck there forever, if not killed by the collapsing tunnel. Sasha fired her rifle first, hitting the first dog between the eyes; it toppled head-first to the floor, and Mikasa shot at the next dog as it tripped over its dead packmate, leaving time for Sasha to reload her rifle. Only two dogs remained; Hange killed one, and Sasha killed the other as Mikasa reloaded.

Silence filled the tunnel, and Mikasa pushed herself up, approaching the dead canines warily, rifle raised. Hange helped Sasha to her feet, but Mikasa concerned herself with the dogs.

"We didn't know they were here," she observed. "They must have come from a different tunnel."

"It's strange," Hange said. "The bodies in here, they're all picked clean."

"But you said this was a controlled environment," Sasha said, voice whimpering a bit. "Which means the dogs are eating people."

"Were," Hange corrected, kicking at the ribcage that had sent the two girls sprawling. "They were eating people." They appeared to be deep in contemplation, staring at the white bones with narrowed eyes. Mikasa rejoined the two, pulling her muffler down to her neck.

"They must have been following us," she said. "We've been walking for hours."

"Of course they were," Hange replied. "I knew they were here when I found the journal. It was just a matter of time before they attacked. Those were dogs, though, not wolves, so someone put them here."

"Traffickers?" Sasha asked.

"No," Hange responded. "Too sloppy. The traffickers wouldn't release dogs for the purpose of attacking random people who happened to coincidentally stumble into an abandoned cavern system. These tunnels lead somewhere important, and those dogs were protecting whatever lies at the end of them."

"They were starved," Mikasa said. "They hadn't eaten in at least a week."

"Yes, I'm getting to that," Hange responded. "They were put here to protect something valuable, and it looks like there's a lot of foot traffic here. At first, I thought this system may have been abandoned, but I know better. It's a farce. It's being neglected so that anyone who enters is led into a false sense of security- they think they're alone, when they're really not. They wander into a tunnel, and they never come out."

"There might be more dogs," Sasha stated, moving closer to Mikasa for protection.

"There might be," Hange repeated. "There's only one way to find out." They turned, continuing on their way, walking past the bodies indifferently. "Let's keep exploring. There's something worth our time at the end of this tunnel."

"I guess it's lucky we're armed," Sasha said softly, following behind Mikasa. "We'd be just like the others if we weren't."

"Sh," Hange ordered, silencing the girl.

As they walked, they started to pass complete skeletons, skulls and bones scattered about, perfectly preserved. Rags accompanied some of these bodies, as did small weapons; Mikasa recognized knives of all shapes and sizes, all bloodied, all forgotten. She felt sick at the sight; if Hange was right, then someone had sent those dogs down here with the deliberate intention of shedding blood. She felt that Sasha may have had a point in bringing up the traffickers; it seemed like the same kind of people.

"Ooh, look what we have here," Hange said, halting. A wooden door obstructed their way, bolted to the wall; the wood was old and neglected, and Hange kicked it down with ease. What the trio saw came as a surprise; a long, dark staircase stretched down into an abyss, wooden planks warped and weathered down from decades of usage. The air was still and musty, a strong indication that this tunnel was not made from ice, but from stone.

"There could be anything down there," Sasha whimpered softly, clinging to Mikasa's arm with terror in her eyes. "Anything!"

Hange took one step forward, testing the top stair with their foot before turning. "It's safe," they said. "Be careful. Single-file. Follow me." They reached into their pocket and pulled out a box of matches, striking one and holding it in front of them, stepping onto the top stair. They hesitated for a minute, then boldly led the way down, wood creaking as Mikasa and Sasha followed. The light from the tunnels quickly faded, leaving only the dim flame to light their way; the trek downwards felt like it took an eternity, and Mikasa could feel Sasha's terrified breath rustling her hair. Mikasa didn't know what to do; she trusted Hange's judgement, being a senior soldier and all, but this seemed a little too dangerous. They were literally in the dark, and she found herself pulling her muffler back over her nose, taking comfort from it.

"Aha," Hange said triumphantly, stopping. They had reached the end of the staircase, and were greeted with another wooden door. This one was also easy to kick down; light streamed into the tunnel, as did a rank stench, and Hange stepped forward, letting their friends follow suit.

"Oh, no," Sasha said softly, quivering and hiding behind Mikasa, who raised her rifle ever so slightly. Hange was quick to pull them down, hiding behind a large boulder.

The cave was huge, rising up to the surface; people were walking back and forth, muttering to each other, brandishing the green unicorns of the Military Police. They spoke amongst each other in soft murmurs, and Mikasa strained to hear what they were saying, grip tightening around her rifle. The cave walls were lined with doors, all identical to the one the trio had just arrived from. Nobody seemed to have noticed the racket from the door's sudden demise; they were all preoccupied with the Titan that they had restrained in the center of the cave. Metal bindings anchored it to the walls and floor, and it let out a loud groan, eyes staring at nothing. Some of the soldiers carried clipboards and were taking notes; others paced back and forth, talking and gesticulating, everyone deep in discussion.

"We have to tell Commander Smith about this," Sasha whispered, almost inaudibly, but Hange seemed to have not heard her, focused on the experiment intently. The soldiers were poking the Titan with long spears, impaling it and eliciting different reactions each time. But something was off about this Titan; it had sharpened teeth and long claws, and seemed to be fully aware of the pain it was receiving. She saw Hange pull out their notebook and pen, beginning to write furiously, not taking their eyes off of the strange creature.

The Titan reacted to the pain in several ways. First, it let out an ear-piercing roar, and Mikasa had to cover her ears; next, it began identifying and snapping at the people who were stabbing it, its eyes blinking awake and blazing with anger. Then, it began to thrash about wildly, the anchors sending thick cracks spiderwebbing up the cave walls.

Several soldiers began buckling themselves into maneuver gear, and Hange shut their notebook, carefully returning it and the pen to a pocket. They began to sneak back towards the staircase, motioning for Mikasa and Sasha to follow; Mikasa understood immediately that they needed to leave. Now. This was shaping up to be disastrous. She stood in broad daylight for several seconds as Sasha and Hange entered the dark staircase, and she feared she would be seen, but she wasn't; the Military Police were too focused on reinforcing their restraints. When her friends had climbed far enough for her to fit, she ascended the steps backwards, using the wall to stabilize herself as she did so. When the darkness enveloped her, she turned tail and charged the rest of the way, catching up with Hange and Sasha at the top of the staircase, short of breath. Without a single word, they retraced their steps at a sprint, determination filling the air around them; this was extremely important, and they had to tell the others as soon as they possibly could.

Hange leaped out of the tunnel and back into the cavern, sunlight streaming through the hole that Sasha had made in the thin roof. Sasha was next, then Mikasa; they slowed to a stop, and Sasha rested her hands on her knees, doubling over to catch her breath.

"We can't get back up," Mikasa observed flatly, staring at the small hole.

"Yes, we can," Hange replied, tone filled with urgency.

Mikasa immediately understood. She stood underneath the hole and bent her knees, allowing Hange to climb onto her shoulders. Sasha grappled up a bit, coming to sit on Hange's shoulders; Mikasa slowly lifted them upwards, standing up straight. She grabbed Hange's ankles tightly, allowing the veteran to stand on her shoulders; Hange did the same to Sasha. They had formed a human ladder.

Mikasa bent her knees, then jumped; while she was in the air, Hange released Sasha's feet, allowing the girl to jump at the same time. Her hands clasped the sides of the hole, and she swung an arm over the edge, then two arms, then pulled herself out. She quickly turned back around, dug her knees into the snow, and extended her rifle. Mikasa jumped again, as did Hange, who wrapped their hands around the rifle, legs swinging in the air as Sasha pulled them up.

Hange grabbed Sasha's ankles and lowered her down, and the girl extended her rifle to Mikasa, who jumped up and grabbed it tightly. As she was lifted up through the hole, she couldn't help but feel as though they had just discovered something of critical importance; when she climbed up next to Sasha and Hange, and Hange pulled her to her feet, she began to speak, her mind racing.

"We need to get back," she said. "This is important, isn't it?"

"Extremely," Hange agreed. They slung their rifle over their shoulders and turned towards the path they'd made, eyes regaining their usual spark. "Last one to camp is a rotten egg!"

"I'm not a rotten egg!" Sasha exclaimed, taking off at full speed, swinging her rifle over her back and sprinting ahead. Hange was hot in pursuit, leaving Mikasa scrambling over the snow to catch up. All that lifting had exhausted her, and she fell behind the other two, keeping a formidable pace but not overexerting herself. She could hear the two brown-haired soldiers whooping and yelling up ahead, but she didn't bother matching their excitement, turning into the pine forest with an unreadable expression.

She could smell smoke, and as she trotted through the pines she began to wonder what Eren had been up to while they were gone; was he eating enough food? They had been hunting for breakfast, after all. What if he hadn't had anything to drink? What if he was sleep-deprived? She had to ensure he was okay. This gave her a burst of motivation, and she used her newfound energy to sprint around rocks and trees, shortening the half-hour trek to ten minutes and zooming past Hange and Sasha. They stared after her, and she heard Hange call out in encouragement, but she ignored them, focusing on her goal.

When she burst into camp, she saw that everybody was huddled around the campfire, rabbits roasting over the open flames. The horses were tied, the supply boxes opened, the sleeping bags rolled out; it was a peaceful sight, and nobody was injured. She immediately approached Eren, hovering over him.

"Have you eaten yet?" she asked, cutting off his greeting. A look of confusion crossed his face, and he glanced at the cooking rabbits.

"No, it's still cooking," he said. Mikasa sat beside him on his sleeping bag, pulling out her canteen and taking a long drink of water before laying her rifle down.

Hange came crashing into camp, Sasha hot on their tail; they raised their fists in the air, jumping up and down victoriously. "Hah! I'm not a rotten egg! Oh, but you were so _fast_ , Sasha, I didn't know you could run like that! That was amazing!"

Sasha doubled over, catching her breath, golden eyes sparkling. "Thank you, squad leader!"

Hange's demeanor immediately calmed when they looked at the others, and they took a seat next to Moblit, pulling out their canteen and taking a long gulp of water.

"Are you hurt?" Levi asked Sasha, eyes locked on her.

"No, thankfully," Sasha replied. "Mikasa and Hange came down and saved me."

"Be careful next time," he said, while Connie leaped to his feet and enveloped her in a tight hug.

"I was worried," he said. "Don't go falling into holes like an idiot anymore!"

"Yes, sir," she teased back. She joined him on his sleeping bag, taking off her gloves and warming her hands by the fire.

Hange retreated away from the others, heading over to one of the boxes and sitting down on it. They pulled out the bloodstained journal and tugged off their mittens, opening it gingerly. Mikasa watched them for a moment before returning her attention to her friends. Sasha was staring at the meat, her mouth watering. "When is it gonna be ready?"

"Right about now," Keiji replied, pulling it off of the flames and rationing it.

Mikasa didn't ordinarily like the taste of rabbit, but when she took her first bite, the flavors exploded in her mouth; she felt that she'd never eaten anything more delicious, and she devoured her ration, only stopping to take gulps from her canteen.

The others seemed to be feeling the same way; pretty soon, there was nothing left, and they began to compliment Keiji for his cooking, even Levi partaking in the comments that rained down on the man. He grinned, giving a dramatic bow before packing things up, a quiet calm settling over the camp as the soldiers digested their meal contentedly.

…..

"You mean to tell me they were stabbing the thing?" Keiji said, incredulous. "That makes no sense.."

"Of course it makes sense," Hange replied condescendingly. The stars were shining brilliantly overhead, but nobody was sleeping. They were all enthralled by what had happened with Hange, Sasha, and Mikasa, and they listened in silence and shock. Hange pushed their goggles up onto their forehead, sighing and closing their eyes. _It's been a long day._ "They were very clearly testing for a reaction. This was not an ordinary Titan, either."

"You mean it was smart and handsome?" Ymir commented, making Historia snort.

"No. Sharp fangs and claws. It was easily 15 metres. They were taking very detailed notes. Nobody noticed me kick down the door, and nobody noticed us leave."

"Something's not sounding right," Armin said. "If they didn't want anybody to go near it, why did all of the tunnels lead to the cave? You said there were doors lining the walls, but there were only four dogs protecting the tunnels."

"There may have been more," Hange responded. "We left in a hurry. But that's a good question. This was a very guarded place, very well-hidden until Sasha came along. It wasn't built as a tourist attraction."

"They need a way to get out quickly," Levi said. "Titan experiments can go wrong easily. You know that more than anyone else, four-eyes."

"That's right," Hange said gravely. "This is something they've been doing for decades, too. The journal I picked up was dated 833." "But why?" Armin said softly. "Why would they be trying to run more experiments?"

"They were focusing on its emotions," Hange responded. "It was reacting negatively to all stimuli inflicted upon it. The Titan they were stabbing wasn't able to ignore the pain. I believe that they might be trying to develop a new breed of Titan."

"Why?" Historia repeated. "I thought we were trying to get rid of them, not make more."

"I don't know," Hange replied, "but something tells me it isn't good." Their stomach wrenched at the thought of faster and more dangerous Titans being introduced. _More people are going to die than ever before, and we're going to have to compensate for our losses. Let's hope that doesn't happen. With further research, we should be able to put a stop to this before it gets out of hand. That's our job as Survey Corps soldiers: protect humanity from the Titans, no matter the cost._

"How are they doing it?" Connie asked. "I mean, geez, we don't even know what the Titans are, let alone how to make more of them."

"There's something going on here," Eren agreed, "and it's pretty suspicious. I think that the Military Police are hiding something exponential from us."

"No doubt about that," Mikasa said. Mike dipped his head in agreement.

"But it just doesn't make sense!" Connie said angrily. "How do the Military Police know more about the Titans than we do?"

"Maybe they have help," Mikasa said, and Hange felt their blood run cold, eyes widening.

"Say that again," they said, staring at Mikasa.

"Maybe they have help," Mikasa replied, confusion crossing her face.

"Yes!" Hange exclaimed. "Mikasa, you're a genius!" They pulled their goggles over their eyes, smiling brilliantly. "Moblit, take notes on everything I say!"

The man nodded, fumbling for his journal and pen, looking up at Hange when he was ready. Hange began to speak, their words tumbling over each other, Moblit struggling to keep up.

"They're getting their help from the traffickers! Who apart from the Survey Corps has been outside the Walls? Who apart from the Survey Corps has access to an unlimited supply of Titans? Who apart from the Survey Corps has access to maneuver gear and advanced Titan-fighting technology?" They threw their arms in the air in victory. "The traffickers! And they wear the Military Police badges to gain access to the outside territories!"

"That still doesn't explain how they know more than us," Armin said. Hange faltered at that, brain running on overdrive, smile fading and arms lowering. _He's right, how_ do _they know more than us? They're just in it for the money, unless-_

"They must send out observation patrols," they responded. "They aren't using the soldiers that they kidnap for information, because the soldiers know as much as we do, so they must be getting their information from a well-educated source. It could be ex-soldiers who were recruited, or the Military Police."

"If the Military Police are working with the traffickers, it's because the Military Police are helping someone else," Ymir piped up. "The Military Police always get help with their duties, otherwise they wouldn't be able to find time to go off and get shitfaced drunk."

"Then who is the Military Police helping?" Connie asked softly. "They're in charge of guarding the king, right? Who's of a higher rank than him?"

"He's the highest ranking individual," Hange replied coldly. "He's the only one who could give them mandatory orders, apart from Nile Dok. So it's either Nile, or it's the king, and I get a feeling I know which one it is."

"It's the king," Levi said. "I've got a hunch."

"We'll find out more later," Hange agreed. "We've covered what we know. Good talk, guys!" They clapped their hands together, grinning. "Let's pack up!"

They'd already spent a night in that location, and staying in one place much longer than that was dangerous. Hange stood, beginning to tie things to their horse, smile not fading. This conversation had been extremely productive; they were one step closer to figuring out the secret behind the traffickers.

…..

Sasha's galloping horse raced along an open stretch of land, the cold winter air numbing her face as she pursued the fleeing buck. The mountains loomed up ahead, threatening and dark, a thick layer of clouds swirling over their highest peaks. She raised her bow, docking an arrow, eyes wild; her aim was precise, but the damn thing maneuvered around a rock, throwing her off. Frustration overpowered her, and she kicked her horse, trying to get it to go faster. She was losing it!

A flash of black raced past her, and she shared a look with Levi as he aimed at the deer with his rifle.

"Hey!" she shouted. "It's mine!"

Levi didn't respond, firing. The deer dodged the bullet, taking a sharp left turn; Levi had to compensate for his speed, but Sasha was far enough behind to maneuver her horse, snow flying as she locked eyes on it once again. She could hear Levi reloading his rifle just behind her, quickly closing the gap between them; with an angry shout, she jumped onto her saddle, balancing carefully as the horse raced at full-speed. She could see Levi in her peripheral vision, gaining on her, gaining on _her_ deer, and she knew what to do. She docked an arrow and bent her knees, timing it; when Levi was beside her horse's hindquarters, and there was nothing but snow next to them, she jumped, knocking him out of his saddle and taking control of his horse. He shouted in surprise, tumbling through the soft snow to a halt, and she laughed victoriously.

His horse was _much_ faster than her's.

She gained quickly on the deer, and she aimed, firing; the arrow soared through the air at the speed of lightning, embedding itself into the back of the buck's neck. It tumbled forward, rolling to a stop, and she pulled back on the reins, slowing down with a wide grin.

"See? Mine!" she called back, seeing Levi approaching on her horse. "I beat you! Good game!"

"This isn't a game, Braus," Levi snapped, slowing and dismounting when her horse was at a walk. "That's our only food for the next few days, and you nearly lost it. Pulling that stunt was dangerous, don't do it again."

"But I got it!" Sasha yipped. "Things worked out!" She tugged the arrow out of her kill, wiping it off in the snow and returning it to her quiver. "You're just upset because I beat you."

"Hey, great catch, guys!" Eren called from behind Levi, and he turned. The boy was quickly approaching with the others in tow, his green eyes sparkling. "I can already taste it!"

"So can I," Connie said dreamily, wiping drool from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. "Let's cook that thing up!"

Levi hopped onto his horse, taking back his reins. He turned, beginning to walk away; Sasha pouted, crossing her arms, and he stopped, glancing back at her, the faintest glint of amusement in his eyes. "You're looking at me funny."

"Aren't you going to help me?"

"You said it's your's," Levi responded. "You can handle it." He resumed his slow retreat.

"Hey! No fair!" she wailed. "Come back and help me move it! It's too heavy for me, see?" She pushed against the massive buck, knees buckling, but it didn't budge.

Levi stopped, pausing for a moment before jumping down from his horse. "You should learn some independence," he responded, returning to help her. Small chuckles came from the others at that, and they dismounted their horses, setting up a campfire for quick roasting. This wasn't going to be their camp; it was too rugged, too open, and too windy. All of their things would be blown away. But it would work temporarily, long enough for them to cook the meat thoroughly.

Sasha was enjoying herself a little too much as she gutted the deer, using Levi's knife to get the job done. _He's just jealous because I won,_ she thought, glancing up at him as he held the buck's body still. _Hmmph!... okay, I do feel a little bad._

"Hey, Levi," she said, getting his attention. "Do you want a rematch?"

A couple of others glanced up at this, interested. Levi glanced down at her. "There was never a game to begin with."

"Come on! Don't be a grumpy grouch, it'll be fun!"

"It'll be a headache."

"Do it, Levi!" Hange exclaimed, fists clenched in front of them. "Show her who's boss!"

"Yeah, captain, don't be a baby," Ymir said with a smirk.

"Come on!"

"Do it!"

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea-"

"Lighten up, Armin."

Similar exclamations continued, until finally Levi held up a hand, silencing them. "Fine. What do I have to do?" He sounded irritated.

"Hmmmm." Sasha thought about this for a moment. _What's something he can win easily, that'll still be fun for both of us?_ "How about a race?"

"Your horse is too slow. You're throwing the game."

"Nuh-uh! I'll use Hange's horse, their horse is pretty fast." She set down the knife. "We can find someplace open. C'mon!" She leaped to her feet, wiping her hands off on her handkerchief and approaching Hange, who handed her their reins. She smiled gratefully, hopping into the saddle.

Levi mounted his horse, as well, and Hange motioned towards the long, open stretch that they'd just come from, voice excited. "You can race there!"

"What are the stakes?" Levi asked, looking at Sasha, sounding disinterested.

"Ummm…" She dug around in her pocket, fingers touching something metal. She pulled it out; it was a small teaspoon with her name engraved on it, probably some trinket she and Connie had bought at one of the many tourist shops in Trost. "You get this spoon!"

"Will you return to your duties afterwards?"

Sasha nodded quickly and handed Connie the spoon, who turned to look at the others. "Who wants to watch and who wants to guard the camp?"

"I'll guard us!" Eren offered, raising a hand and smiling. Mikasa immediately volunteered herself, as well, and Armin followed suit.

Everybody else gathered along the sides of the open stretch, Keiji and Nifa betting on who would win as Ymir helped Historia up into a tree. Hange and Mike galloped to the end of the stretch, climbed a tree, and shared a branch, while Connie stepped to the front of Sasha and Levi, who lined up facing the veterans. The stretch wasn't too big; it would be a solid two minutes to get from where the competitors stood to the veterans.

"When I wave my arm down, like this, that's your cue to go," Connie said. "When you reach the end, turn around and come back. That's it! Good luck!"

"Okay, punk, you ready?" Sasha challenged, looking at Levi with a smile. He gave a light nod in response, holding his reins tightly. They both watched Connie, waiting for the signal to go.

"Ready! Set! GO!" Connie shouted, waving his arm down. Their horses reared at the sudden command that they were given, and they were off like lightning, Levi and Sasha neck and neck, their hair matching their horses as they sent snow flying. His expression was unreadable, and he pushed his horse forward, pulling ahead of her ever so slightly.

Sasha was hot on his heels, eyes ablaze. Chunks of snow flew behind them as their horses barreled through the snow, their legs pumping, hair flying against the icy air. _Yes! He's winning! He's going to reach the trees first!_

He did. He slid to a stop, turning as he did so, then kicked forward, flying past Sasha in the opposite direction as she reached the treeline. Cheers and whoops sounded from the sidelines, and Sasha gave chase, knowing he would win no matter how fast she went. She brought the horse to a gallop, closing the gap ever so slightly, watching him speed ahead like a shadow.

When he finally skidded to a halt, he remained mounted, watching Sasha run to the finish. His expression remained indifferent as Connie handed him the teaspoon; Hange and Mike mounted their horses and raced back, Hange's eyes glittering with excitement.

They didn't stop talking, even as Levi dismounted and began to lead his horse away, tucking the spoon safely into his breast pocket. Sasha dismounted, as well, following him back to camp, where the Shiganshina trio were huddled together beside the fire, sharing Mikasa's scarf.

"Hey! How'd it go?" Eren greeted, standing to welcome them back. "Who won?"

"Levi did!" Hange exclaimed. "Ooh, Eren, it was so exciting!"

Sasha saw Nifa reluctantly fork a couple of coins to a very triumphant Keiji, who pocketed them with a toothy grin. Connie was at her side in seconds, and they sat down in front of the fire, warming their hands through their mittens.

"So? Did you throw it or not?"

"What makes you think I'd cheat?" Sasha shot back, jabbing him in the arm with her elbow. "I never cheat!"

"Yeah you do. All the time!"

"Okay, so what?"

"So, did you throw it or not?"

"Of course I didn't throw it!" Sasha replied. "The stakes were too low for me to cheat."

"Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!"

"Hey!" She tackled him, and they scuffled around in the snow, fists flying and feet kicking, both of them emitting false exclamations of anger.

"Come on, you two," Goggles said, looking down at them with crossed arms. "We have to cook the deer still."

"Oh, right." Sasha sat up, brushing snow from herself and standing. "Sorry!" She approached the abandoned deer, as did Levi, and together they finished cutting it up, putting the meat over the fire and rolling up the hide for later usage.

…..

Levi could feel the spoon poking into his chest uncomfortably, and so he repositioned it, buttoning the pocket tightly closed. It sat next to Jean's badge; these objects reminded him of his friends, giving him motivation to go on. They had been walking for a few hours, and Levi felt that they'd been going in circles; but Hange was at the lead, and he trusted their judgement. They seemed to know exactly where they were going, and probably had a destination in mind; and so Levi rode on, rifle slung across his back, reins gripped tightly in his hands.

It came as no surprise to him when Hange approached, leaned into his ear, and told him to put on his maneuver gear. _It's too quiet,_ he thought as he strapped himself in under his coat. _About damn time. Their timing is worse than Eren's, and he's always late._

The message was clear among the group: several Titans had been spotted south of their resting place, and they had to avoid them. He kicked his horse to a gallop, following Hange as the group fell into formation. _Funny how you compensate when your leader is lost,_ he thought, thinking about the way Hange had taken command in the absence of Erwin.

His mind was torn away when Keiji let out a shout: "Two Titans are in pursuit!"

Nobody needed to say anything else; everybody lept to their feet, a single organism balancing on multiple saddles, gear at the ready as their horses continued to gallop forward. Levi glanced over his shoulder, eyes widening when he saw what they were up against; these weren't ordinary Titans.

They looked like wolves, racing forward on four legs, teeth glinting and claws scratching at the snow, hair wild and unkempt, their beady eyes glittering with rage. Their muscles rippled as they ran, blood staining their mouths from Maria-knows-what. Levi was expecting fear to hang heavy in the air, but was surprised when there was none; instead, his companions were glaring at the Titans with determined sparks in their eyes. When the monsters came too close for comfort, everyone jumped up, engaged their gear, and took off into the trees; Mikasa, Levi, Mike, Hange, Eren, Moblit, and Armin went to the left, while Ymir, Historia, Sasha, Connie, Nifa, Goggles, and Keiji went to the right. They were all well aware of the dangers that came with using maneuver gear in extreme temperatures; the decision was silently made to split up into two groups, minimizing the amount of time that would be spent in the air.

The squad on the right attacked the first Titan as it sped past. Ymir and Historia took out its wrists, Sasha and Connie sliced the tendons at the back of its ankles, Nifa and Keiji cut out its eyes, and Goggles finished it off. They were like a well-oiled machine, reading each other's moves with ease and predicting where they needed to land their next hit. When the beast fell, they returned to the trees, allowing the others to handle the next one.

The other Titan was in fast pursuit, and the squad on the left flew into battle. Levi watched as his comrades incapacitated the beast, with Armin and Eren getting its wrists, Moblit and Mike its tendons, and Hange and Mikasa its eyes. He knew what he had to do; Levi flipped his right sword around and pushed himself into a spin, the world becoming a blur as his hooks zipped him rapidly towards the nape. He felt the satisfying sensation of his swords cutting flesh, and he slowed to a stop midair, the rest of his squad soaring out of the way as the Titan fell with a crash.

"That was impressive," Ymir said as Levi landed, the others gathering in a group between the two steaming bodies. "Anybody else notice anything strange about that kill?"

"Those were the new Titans, weren't they?" Historia said. "They're the ones that Hange saw in the underground cave."

"Yes," Hange confirmed. "Like a trial run. They were sent after us as a test, to see how well they'd perform."

"How do you know that?" Sasha asked.

"Because these Titans displayed extreme flaws," Hange replied. "The one we killed was too slow, while the one you killed was too jerky with its movements. They weren't the final product."

"We should stay on our feet," Mike said. "I smell three others coming."

"Good idea," Hange said, turning and zipping back into the trees. The others followed suit, Levi landing beside Eren and watching the ground closely.

Shortly thereafter, thunderous steps could be heard, and a large Titan appeared, easily 20 metres. Levi's eyes widened as he stared up at it, its arms long and dangly, legs extremely thin. It was moving slowly, its two companions much faster; without a moment's hesitation, Levi leaped from his branch, slicing one of the smaller Titans in one swing, Mikasa doing the same to the other. They crossed paths and landed on the opposite treelines, the Titans falling, leaving the large one.

 _It's so goddamned big,_ Levi thought as both sides charged, swords ablaze as they worked their way up, slicing around the Titan as though they were collaborating on cutting a potato. It let out a loud roar, reaching down and grabbing someone out of the air: Sasha. _Of course it's Sasha,_ Levi thought angrily, shooting his hooks up and flinging himself forward, slicing off the Titan's arm before it could lift the girl any further. _We'll talk about your danger streak later, Potato Girl._

He rose to the top of the Titan, Mikasa on the other side; swords flashing, they each anchored into the opposite shoulder and thrust downwards, the force of four swords slicing the Titan's massive nape clean off. He could see the Titan spurting blood from all angles, and he realized that his friends had succeeded in dicing off every appendage. Levi and Mikasa leaped upwards as it began to fall. It slammed to the ground as the soldiers floated upwards; only when it began to steam did they let themselves land.

"That's the biggest Titan I've ever seen," Connie said softly, eyes wide as he kicked at its arm. "How did it get so big?"

"It must have been an experiment," Hange said, leaning down and observing as the sharp-toothed Titan evaporated. "A failed one, it's too big to be of tactical use."

"Does that mean they're making these things for combat?" Keiji looked down at his hands, eyes hardened.

"No," Armin said softly, eyes widening. "They're sending them after us. We're on their hitlist, remember? They've probably given up hope of catching us alive. By now they just want us out of the way."

"Maybe," Hange said. "We're still worth a lot of money in the underground markets. If there's a chance we're still alive, they would want to catch us to sell."

"They wouldn't discard experiments carelessly," Nifa pointed out. "This is like what Hange said. It's a test run."

"How do they know if they succeeded?" Sasha asked, quivering at the connotations.

"They're watching," came the dreaded response from Mikasa. All eyes turned to her, but she seemed to be staring at something in the distance, black eyes dark. Levi turned, peering at his surroundings closely, but all he could see for miles was snow and pine trees.

"Where are they, then?" Keiji challenged, to which Eren pointed. There were several mounds of snow lining the bottoms of the trees; Levi's face darkened, and he raised his swords, prepared to fight.

"They won't hurt us," Hange said, noticing his movements. "They would have killed us already if they wanted us dead. We're safe." The mounds began to slink backwards, away from the group, sparkling as they slid behind the trees and out of sight. _Some sort of camouflage,_ he thought bitterly.

"That means they have our location," Eren said softly. "They know where we are. They know where to find us. They must have been following us for Maria-knows-how-long."

Levi felt his spine shiver at that, and he exchanged a glance with Hange. _Something's going on here._

"We need to move," Hange said, jumping onto their horse. "Before they come back."

"We aren't safe," Sasha protested, also mounting. "None of us are safe, those people are going to kill us-"

Levi clapped his hand firmly on her shoulder, looking at her closely. "Stop worrying," he said. "We'll be fine."

"But what if we aren't fine?"

"Enough of that," he responded sharply. "You'll be fine as long as I'm around. Now let's go."

They nodded, and he returned to his saddle, kicking his horse to a trot and leading the way. Hange followed, the others in tow; he gripped his reins tightly, urging his horse forward.

The wind began to pick up as they rode, blowing snow in their faces; Levi pulled up his muffler, tugging on his hood, eyes squinting against the freezing cold. _Shit, it's getting colder the higher up we go… if we keep going in this direction, we'll hit the mountains._ He tried to turn back, deciding it was a bad idea, but Hange pushed past him, taking charge and continuing through the blasting ice, leaving no choice but for the others to follow.

The mountains were taller here than they had been at the soldiers' previous resting site, and they loomed menacingly up ahead, their dark peaks towering into the cloud-covered sky. There would be no Titans there, Levi knew, but how long would it be before someone plummeted over the side of a cliff, or drowned in a surging river, or got trapped in another ice cavern? He felt his heart lurch, and he began to slow down, deciding to take up the rear. _That won't happen._ He wouldn't let it.

"Hoods on!" Hange called behind them, and the soldiers didn't need to be told twice, tugging their hoods down and mufflers up in an attempt to fight the blowing wind.

Levi glanced back, ensuring there were no Titans following them. _They won't be able to climb up after us,_ he thought as the terrain began to grow rocky. Dark boulders jutted out of the deep snow, welcoming the soldiers into the mountains; the snow was beginning to grow deeper, the snowfall accelerating, Hange surging forth through the deadly weather.

"Hange, it's going to blizzard!" Moblit exclaimed shakily. "Are you sure we should keep going?" His voice was raised, struggling to be heard over the wind.

"Yes!" Hange shouted back. "It's going to be rough terrain, but it's our safest bet in escaping the traffickers! I know of a village up here, anyway!"

"This is a terrible idea!" Moblit yelled. "Hange, you're going to get us killed!"

"Trust me!" Hange replied, slowing the group to a walk.

They continued to battle the wretched weather, Levi's sight obscured by the blustering snow; he couldn't see a metre in front of him, and only knew he was still with the others when a rope was thrown across his horse's neck. Immediately understanding the situation, he grabbed it tightly, feeling it tug as thirteen people pulled it forward. They had formed a chain so that nobody would be left behind.

It was only when the tension on the rope loosened that he realized something was wrong. An exclamation from up ahead alerted him to the fact that whoever was in front of him had fallen; his iron grip on the rope did not release, and he instead began to pull it towards him, bringing whoever was attached backwards.

"Thanks," he heard Eren- _of course it was Eren-_ pant. "My horse tripped, it almost dropped me-"

"Save it," Levi replied, and Eren froze, his hold on the rope tightening.

"S-sorry, captain, I didn't mean to slow us down-"

"Start walking, then."

He knew Eren had complied when the rope tensed up again, and they began to move, the storm only seeming to get worse. Levi swore they were going to fall off a cliff any minute; suddenly, his weight shifted downwards. They were descending down a hill, and the pace picked up to a trot, which Levi verbally protested against. His words were lost in the wind, however, and he resorted to holding the rope in both hands in case he had to save the entire squadron. _Idiots. We should be going slower, there's no telling what's at the bottom of the mountain._

Suddenly, they broke through the storm; he could see that they were all accounted for, trotting down a soft incline in a single-file line, alpine firs lining the road as they went. He glanced back; a dark, angry cloud swirled where they'd just been. Hooves clopped against cobblestone, and he knew they were on an established road, despite it being blanketed by of snow. Tall poles made from wood towered overhead, long-forgotten gas lamps lining the trees; the terrain flattened as they reached the bottom of the valley, the snowfall lighter and the wind calmer.

Dilapidated buildings greeted them, and it became quite clear to Levi that the village had been destroyed by natural causes. Nothing had been crashed into or broken from an outside force, let alone a large one, and he figured it had been abandoned voluntarily. _No Titans._ A crumbled stone well stood in the center of the town square, and the group circled around it, dropping the rope and letting Hange reel it in. They fastened it to the back of their saddle before jumping down, holding their reins steadily.

"This doesn't look all that safe to me," Ymir observed, but Hange was quick to shut her down.

"Titans can't come after us, we're safe here. It's an old tourist village. I saw it on a map once. Everyone moved out after the Wall fell."

"What about the traffickers?" Sasha asked softly. "Aren't they following us?"

"Nobody in their right mind would go through a storm like that," Armin soothed. "We should be safe from them for now."

"So what next?" Connie asked.

"We set up camp," Keiji said, jumping down from his saddle. "What else is there to do?"

Levi dismounted, pulling his horse close. _It's a lot colder up here,_ he thought. _They'll freeze their feet off if they stay out much longer._

"We'll set up in that building," Hange said, pointing to one of the larger houses. It had two floors, and one of the outer walls had collapsed, leaving a few rooms exposed. _An easy place to hide._ "Let's get going!"

Mike busied himself with taking the horses, while the rest of them moved quickly, relocating their boxes inside and fastening everything down. The room that they chose was a cozy upstairs parlor, a torn rug covering the weathered wooden floor. There was a stone fireplace in the back, with crumbled paintings lining the walls; all of the furniture had been stripped, leaving the windowless room bare. The door had been kicked down, and so Levi took it upon himself to stand watch, rifle at the ready while the others laid out their necessities and got a fire going.

"We're lucky," he heard Eren saying in a soft voice. "Those traffickers wouldn't stand a chance in that storm."

Interested, he turned his primary attention towards the small group, standing upright at the doorway with his back facing them.

"The squad leader is smart," Mikasa agreed, matching his volume.

"I just don't get it," the boy continued. "Why would they be following us instead of grabbing us?"

"They could be learning about us," Armin murmured. "Trying to make things easier for themselves by taking notes about our behavior. They're learning the enemy so that they can take out our defenses easily."

"They're too obvious," Mikasa said. "Sending those strange Titans would alert anybody to their presence. It's a bold move."

"That means they know we know about them," Eren replied. "But how? We haven't left any of them alive…"

Mikasa's voice was soft. "Maybe they don't know we know about them," she said. "They must be trying to scare us with new Titans so that we'll use our resources trying to learn about them."

"That makes sense," Armin said. "If we exhaust ourselves focusing on the new Titans, we'll be easier to catch. There's something that doesn't add up, though. These Titans displayed the same bloodlust as normal Titans. If they were going to sell us, they'd need us alive, don't you think?"

"Hey! You three!" Keiji called, shattering the whispered conversation. "Get over here and help us out with these boxes!"

"Yes, sir!" they said in unison, and Levi heard their heels click as they saluted, footsteps quickly walking away from the door. He stared out into the snow, unmoving, rifle held in his arms and finger resting over the trigger, feeling frustration burning inside of him. _Why are they keeping this quiet? This is critical information that should be discussed with everyone._

"Hey, Levi," Nifa called, distracting the man from his thoughts. "Come get some meat. You're useless if you starve to death."

He turned around, approaching a box that was pushed against the back wall and leaning on it. Nifa walked up to him with a stick that had been poked through a sliver of meat; he took it and pulled the meat off with his teeth, chewing it while watching the relaxing soldiers. They were making the most of the peaceful atmosphere; the firelit room glowed softly as Sasha and Connie arm-wrestled, a faint murmur buzzing as people talked to one another, Hange going over their journal. He found his gaze wandering to the Shiganshina trio; they were huddled together in front of the fireplace, likely discussing the Titans again. He felt another spark of annoyance. _They should be discussing this with all of us, not just themselves. It affects everyone._

"You three have a lot of nerve, keeping secrets after all the shit we just went through," he said, walking over to them. They glanced up, and Eren quickly swallowed his food as the others were alerted to the conversation; Hange glanced up from their journal, eyes narrowed, and Sasha and Connie stopped wrestling, confusion evident on their faces.

"What are you talking about?" Eren began, but Levi's glare cut him off, and he took a nervous drink of water from his canteen.

"Your head is surprisingly big, considering how small your brain is," Levi replied. "Maybe I can help cut it down to size."

"No!" Armin exclaimed, a little too quickly. Levi scowled. "N-no, sir, there's no need for that! We're just…. collecting our thoughts, that's all! We don't want to spread misinformation!"

"Do you have such little faith in us that you'll willingly sacrifice our trust for the sake of _being right_? This is life or death, Arlert, and if you can contribute your thoughts to the conversation, then you damn well better do it. Giving in to your insecurities will only slow us down. You're smart, so act like it."

"Yes, sir," Armin said, looking down at his feet but not releasing Mikasa. "We'll share our findings."

Levi stepped back, letting the blond face the others. Armin began to speak, his voice going blank. "We were trying to talk about the fanged Titans and why they would be sent to us."

"We think they were developed for the purpose of exhausting our resources," Eren said. "They were meant to make us curiosity, and were meant to feed that curiosity, so that we spend all of our time trying to learn about them instead of running from the traffickers. Armin thinks that the ones we killed were still in the experimental stage, which would explain why they were so aggressive."

"They want us alive so that they can kidnap us and sell us, right?" Armin glanced up at the group. "It makes sense that they would want to use nonaggressive Titans. That way, nobody dies, and they have more stock to sell."

Silence filled the room for several minutes as each person contemplated this revelation. _It makes sense,_ Levi thought. _But it's too much effort for capturing a couple of 's something bigger happening here._

"It serves as part of an explanation," Hange finally said. "But that doesn't quite cut it. We're still missing something."

"Why would the royalty do this to us?" Historia asked quietly, hands clenching into fists. "We've done nothing to them. Why would they send traffickers in the first place?"

"They think we're expendable," Ymir replied. "Isn't it obvious? They don't have any respect for us, just like we have no respect for them." For once, she was serious, her tone dropped and her eyes narrowed.

"But we're the most important regiment!" Connie exclaimed angrily. "What the hell did we ever do to them?"

"We didn't _do_ anything," Goggles responded. "We're just their scapegoat for everything. They blame things on us, and everybody believes it. Bunch of bullshit's what it is. Rumours spread fast within the Walls."

"Thank you, boys," Hange said, standing and pocketing their notebook. "Armin, you can speak your mind, you know."

A flash of surprise crossed his face, pupils shrinking. "What do you mean, squad leader? I'm not hiding anything."

"Sure you are," they replied. "You saw something, didn't you? You're keeping something from the rest of us because you think we'd be better off without knowing it. It's unrelated, too. What is it?"

Levi glanced at Armin, immediately suspicious. _Who's side is he really on? Does he really not trust us? We all have secrets, but this is detrimental._ He saw similar expressions on the others' faces, their stares burning into the boy.

Armin looked visibly shaken, and he looked down at his feet, eyes distant. "I swear, I'm not hiding anything-"

Levi grabbed Armin by the shirt collar, pulling him down to eye level. "Start talking, now!" _Trust us for once! We deserve to know whatever it is you're hiding just as much as your friends do!_ He pushed him away before Mikasa could attack, glaring into him angrily.

Armin swallowed as Levi released him, then began to speak. "We.. weren't really talking about the Titans," he admitted softly, avoiding all eye contact. "We were talking about… about Commander Smith."

"Huh?" Levi's eyes widened as he remembered his last encounter with the Commander. They had been splitting up, with Levi taking the cadets and Erwin taking the rest, and the Commander had looked him dead in the eye, wind whipping his hair to the side.

"Levi," he'd said, "don't let me down."

Those words had struck a chord inside his heart. It sounded like Erwin was saying goodbye, like he somehow knew he wouldn't be seeing Levi again. It had confused him greatly, but he had learned to trust Erwin's judgement long ago, and so he did as told, doing his best to keep his cadets safe and find Armin. He wondered about what Armin wasn't telling them, his eyes narrowing and his arms crossing over his chest impatiently.

"What about Erwin?" Hange asked. "Did you see him?"

"Yes," Armin replied quietly, blue eyes downcast. "I did."

"Was he alive?"

"Yes."

"What did he say to you?"

Levi saw him begin to quiver, his hands clenching into his fists. _Whatever this is, it's tearing him apart. It must be bad, or at least have bad connotations._

"He ran into me at the scene of the Titan massacre. He.. thought I was a trafficker, and at first I thought maybe he was mistaken, so I took my mask off." His breath was hitching; Eren rested a hand on his shoulder, green eyes soft and urging him to continue. He stabilized his breath and wiped the tears from his eyes. "He thought I joined them willingly, and two other traffickers tried coming to my aid, thinking I was their comrade… he killed both of them before turning his sword on me."

"Battle of the brains!" Ymir exclaimed, earning sharp glares from everybody in the room.

"Was he with Bertholdt and Reiner?" Hange pressed, and Armin shook his head, slowly regaining his composure.

"No, he was alone… at least, I think he was. I didn't notice anyone with him."

"Hold on, what does this have to do with the fanged Titans?" Connie asked, confused. "Did I miss something?"

"Yes, idiot," Ymir replied. "They weren't talking about Titans in the first place. They pulled that out their asses to cover their discussion about our dearest commander. Keep up."

"Both of these conversations are relevant," Hange corrected immediately. "Armin, what did he say to you? His actions aren't enough to warrant the reaction you're having."

"He said that the Walls are not in our control," Armin replied, standing tall, blue eyes wide with realization. "That means that not only are the Military Police working against us, but so are the Garrison. If you think about it-"

"We know the Garrison are against us, Armin," Mike said.

"What?"

 _So that's it,_ Levi thought, disappointed. He'd been expecting something far more important; instead, the only thing this conversation had revealed was the fact that Armin was oblivious, and that Erwin could still be alive. _You didn't want us to know that we're hated. This isn't news to us. Tell us about Erwin instead._ He opened his mouth to say something, but Eren interrupted him.

"They attacked us," Eren explained to his friend. "We tried to get back in but they wouldn't let us through the gate. When we tried to force our way in, they started firing cannons."

"We already know that nobody within the Walls gives a shit about us," Hange added. "My question is, how did Erwin know this before we did? He went missing before we discovered any of this."

"Maybe he had an anonymous tip," Ymir said with a shrug. "Who knows."

"What do you mean by that?" Keiji asked threateningly, leaping to his feet and clenching his fists, eyebrows furrowed. "Are you implying our own Commander has been working against us?"

"Who knows," Ymir repeated coldly, fixing her amber glare on Keiji. "It's a distinct possibility, considering who we're dealing with."

Levi could tell a fight was about to break out; the tension rose quickly. Before anybody could say anything, he stepped forward, arms still crossed. "Something's going on here, and we're going to get the bottom of it," he said, addressing both of them before turning his focus to the whole squad. "Right now, you all need to sleep. It's been a long day, and staying up worrying won't do you any good."

"Yes, captain," a unanimous murmur said, and Levi found himself at the open door once again, deciding to make himself useful during the cold night that was rapidly approaching them. The sun was beginning to dip down over the mountaintops, coloring the pearly snow orange. _Erwin wouldn't turn against us unless he thought it best for the betterment of humanity. So what's his deal? Did someone manipulate him? He wouldn't confide in anyone he didn't trust, so anybody roaming around within Maria is out of the question._

The sun finally vanished, the sky fading into a deep blue, the first stars twinkling overhead. He pulled out a handkerchief, polishing the steel barrel of his rifle idly. _Armin said he talked to Erwin at the scene of the Titan massacre. Someone must have survived long enough to tell Erwin about the Walls. Does this mean Erwin went by himself to investigate? And where did Bertholdt and Reiner disappear to?_ He was piecing together the puzzle, but not liking the picture it was presenting.

Amidst all of these uncertainties and speculations, he was sure of one thing: all of this, every last bit of it, was related directly to the royalty within the Walls.

He placed a hand over his breast pocket, making sure that the spoon was still there. _The royalty can kiss my ass,_ he thought. _They're not touching my soldiers._


End file.
